


For You, My Ruin

by LyricalRiot



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - Regency, Breeding, Bridgerton AU, By Which I Mean Canon Timeline Ages Are All Messed Up, Consensual Sex, Courtship, Do Not Read if Triggered by Mentions of Pregnancy, Enthusiastic Consent, Explicit Consent, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Family Issues, Mating Bites, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Not Canon Compliant, Rey is Not a Palpatine (Star Wars), Reylo - Freeform, Romance, everything is fully consensual, meddling grandmothers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 09:00:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 36,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29026134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LyricalRiot/pseuds/LyricalRiot
Summary: Two rumors have spread through the high society of the city of Theed.The first: Lord Chester Bacca has brought home a mysterious young woman by the last name of Kenobi to sponsor her debut into society.And the second: Bennet Skywalker-Solo, Marquess of Organa, has at last come home.With the gossipy writings of an unknown author fanning the flames of these rumors, the ambitious parents of the town are eager to know how these two arrivals will affect the prospects of their eligible children for this year's Mating Season.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 94
Kudos: 420





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> > Hi, everyone! It's finally here.  
> This is my Reylo Bridgerton A/B/O au, as inspired by (or harrassed by) [ToriaOtaku1993](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToriaOtaku1993/gifts) and [thisismelodrama](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisismelodrama/profile)
>> 
>> They're the ones who persuaded me to write this. And I am happy they did, because it's been super fun so far.
>> 
>> Some housekeeping things: I have liberally played around with canon ages and the likes, so even though I KNOW that Ahsoka is much older than Luke / Leia, for the purposes of this fic, she isn't. There are other anachronisms like that scattered throughout.
>> 
>> Secondly, this will not follow the Bridgerton plot beat for beat, blow for blow. There are alterations, as you will quickly see.
>> 
>> Thirdly, if you're at all familiar with Bridgerton, you know that there's a lot of discussions about babies, pregnancy, getting pregnant, siring heirs, etc. There will be in this too. If any of these things are squicky for you, DO NOT READ.
>> 
>> I also will be doing something else instead of that extremely dubious con scene from the show. You know the one. Everything is consensual, to the extent that an omegverse world allows. 
>> 
>> I plan to update once or twice a week. Your support gives me muse and makes me ignore my other responsibilities to write faster, so it could be more than that. We'll see how life goes.
>> 
>> Lastly, come find me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/little_womp_rat)!

_Dearest Reader,_

_The highborn denizens of the glorious city of Theed once again find ourselves at the cusp of the most titillating time of the year — the start of the social season, or more excitingly known among the designated community, the Mating Season. The time has come to place our bets on which alphas and which omegas will find themselves entangled in that delicate dance of courtship, while maintaining a rigid and unyielding grasp on their baser instincts. It is a game not meant for the faint of heart, and we can always look forward to at least one major scandal from a couple unable to maintain control._

_This season we look primarily to the honorable family of Count Chester Bacca, prolific father of seven, cursed in the game of love. This kindly alpha has had the tragic misfortune to lose three mates, the first two in childbirth, and the third to a fever five years ago. His assortment of children are the sparkling gems in Theed society. And while the young Miss Kaydel Bacca, much anticipated jewel of an omega that she is, will enjoy her coming out next season, this writer has heard exciting news that the Bacca household will be introducing another this year._

_The object of such rumors is a one Lady Rey Kenobi, rumored to be the granddaughter of the Lord Obi Wan Kenobi, who traveled abroad with his wife Sabine shortly after their marriage and never returned. We do not know what followed, save only that Count Bacca has taken a young woman of that name into his household, and she is to be presented before the queen for consideration for the Season. As we do not know where she comes from, or even her designation, we cannot speak to the character of this foreign jewel, but rest assured, dear readers, that this writer will be the first to discover every titillating detail._

_Yours,_

_Lady Appleknot_

X X X X X X X X

No one who knew the estimable Count Chester Wallace Bacca could ever dispute the innate goodness of his character. He was a man as filled with mercy as he was justice, and would just as soon deprive his own household of a fine meal as deny any beggar on the street a credit or two. Large of stature and bristling with long brown beard hair, his figure imposed his presence forcefully in any situation, but his quiet demeanor and amused smile made him easy friends with anyone, his size notwithstanding.

So no one could be all that surprised, really, when rumor spread that he had taken an unknown young woman into his household as a kind of ward, or surrogate daughter. His prevalent generosity frequently compelled him to behave with outrageous altruism.

Still, surprised or not, the good people of Naboo society _talked_.

Because what other sort of excitement was there, really, for the upper crust, except the scandalous deeds or misdeeds of their peers?

Count Bacca had enough children of his own — he did not need to take in another. His family was well-respected, his offspring polite and proper and innocent of any faults that would earn them the least reproach in respectable circles. Everyone pitied him for the loss of three consecutive wives, but could muster no single word of criticism regarding the unimpeachable good manners of his motherless children.

So why this girl? He did not need to bring an outsider into his already full household. Who was she? And where had she come from? She must have some noble parentage of her own, but could the mysterious gossip columnist be right about the lineage? If so, where had she been all this time? Was she plain, or beautiful? Was she well-educated and accomplished? Or was she another charity case? And what would the queen make of her?

These were the questions of the tonn as everyone made ready for the start of the season — but they were not, as it so happened, the questions percolating around the Bacca household on the morning of her introduction to the queen.

"Rey," lamented Kaydel, sixth child of the household, not quite out yet as she was only seventeen — a year younger than the newcomer. "Where have you _been_ that you've never worn your hair like this before? It's been fashionable for ages now. Since Bo's coming out, at least."

The mysterious subject of the talk of the town, who called herself Rey, sat in a chair before the mirror while servants flitted about, fussing with her hair, arranging it in an elegantly low chignon near the nape of her neck, curling tongs coaxing twists down according to the fashion of the day. Her previous existence had not required such frenzy in many years, not since her grandparents were alive to tote her around to various society events of their country of residence. After their death, she never went anywhere. She'd grown accustomed to a style she could easily assemble herself — three haphazard knots behind her head, all in a row — to the great and ardent lament of the servants of her grandfather's household.

She couldn't get away with that here, today. Not when her new benefactor intended to set her before a _queen_.

"You make it sound as if it were _so very_ long ago," said Bo, who was the thirdborn and several years older. Her nose wrinkled, eyes narrowing in a shrewd approximation of resentment.

"It _was_ so long ago," Kaydel insisted. "You're well on your way to spinsterhood, right behind Soka."

"Oh, what a terrible fate, to live a life of my own choosing without the dictatorial reign of some _man_ ," squabbled the elder.

Rey refocused her faculties so as not to hear the sisters devolve into bickering. Since arriving in the well-populated household of the man she knew affectionately as Uncle Chewie, she found herself frequently exhausted by the constant conversation whirling around her at every turn. Her long years of solitude had given her little by way of experience with regards to the hectic tempest of sibling proximity. From time to time, she found it necessary to escape them by retreating to her room for a while in search of that blessed peace she so craved.

Of course today, no escape would be found. The sisters of the family had followed her right in — eager to be part of the process of making ready.

Her eyes met the deep blue of Ahsoka's through the mirror. The eldest daughter gave her a gentle, reassuring smile.

Like everyone else newly arrived in the bustling city of Theed, the Baccas primarily took residence in their country estate of Kashyyk. It was there Rey had first met them all. Din Djarin, the eldest son, given as a second name his deceased mother's family name, alpha, widower, and father of one very young boy. Ahsoka, the second, and regarded by most as a peculiar case of pitiable pickiness. Widely acknowledged as a beauty, she was expected to do very well during her first, and then second, and even third seasons — but here she was, yet unmarried. A lovely, perfectly charming omega woman unable to find her alpha husband for as many seasons as she had — she was certainly a source of curiosity and gossip, though by now most had given up on her and written her off as a very agreeable spinster.

There was Bo, the third born, who was not very far off from her younger sister's accusations of becoming an old maid like her elder. She was the first child born of Chester's third wife, a sweet woman from impure bloodlines, and as a result, was the anomalous beta in a family of demi-humans. That perhaps explained her ill fortune in finding a match, as betas were relatively uncommon among those of good breeding. Not that Bo was much complaining. The young woman possessed a willfulness of spirit that, while never vulgar or offensive, still managed to raise more than a few eyebrows every year.

There was Ezra, the second son, and after him, the twins, Kin Beaumont and Kaydel. Both sons were alpha, and Kaydel, omega. And lastly, the young Temiri, at only twelve years old and unpresented.

Rey had developed a fond affection for them all over the last few months, exhausting as they all could be sometimes. And catching that look from Ahsoka now induced in her a feeling of fortification. They were here for her, to cheer her, to strengthen her. She could do this. She could stand before royalty and not quake.

Couldn't she?

"It's normal to be nervous, Rey," Ahsoka assured her when the work on her hair was nearly finished. She got up off Rey's bed and drifted closer. "Bo nearly set fire to the drapes in her anxiety over her first season."

"That wasn't anxiety," Bo contradicted. "It was anger. I didn't want to go."

"And yet you had a nice time, didn't you?"

To this exchange, Rey offered little. Her nature inclined towards introspection anyway, accustomed to long, silent hours spent in the solitude of her grandfather's empty estate — but she also found it entirely unnecessary to contribute by speaking, when there was always one or two or more of the Bacca children there to fill the quiet with conversation.

The servants applied light powder to the sun-stained tan of her skin. Prior to Uncle Chewie's kind insistence to bring her into his household, she'd spent much of her time outside. Roaming the wilds of the estate brought her infinitely more peace than wandering around the great hollow house, with only servants to break up the stillness. Outside, she could breathe. She could do the things her heart dictated. She climbed trees and lay in the grass, swam in ponds and walked for miles and miles, all of it in pursuit of escaping the emptiness of her existence.

It wasn't empty anymore.

"I promised your grandfather," Uncle Chewie had offered by way of explanation, when he discovered out in the fields. "You have a home with me and mine."

And — well — she couldn't really say no to that, could she?

So Rey found herself here, being made ready to greet a queen. The three sisters lent their moral support by being there with her, all ready to go themselves. Ahsoka wore a gown of deepest blue, flattering the warm brown of her skin. Bo, a gown of pale green, bringing out the jade of her eyes. And Kaydel, in lavender, which perhaps seemed a bit juvenile for a girl scarcely younger than Rey herself, but then, she wasn't "out" and therefore still considered a child. Nevermind that she endured the same wretched omega cycles as the other girls.

Bo and Kaydel's creamy pale skin didn't match Ahsoka's at all, but then, they hadn't shared a mother with her, and Rey had grown used to the mismatched assortment of appearances in this family. She did not feel out of place among them.

"Ready?" Ahsoka asked with a smile when the servants finally fitted a delicate tiara onto Rey's head.

With mingled admiration and distrust, Rey regarded her reflection. She looked soft and pretty, just as the ladies of the tonn were supposed to be. Not quite the beauty of Ahsoka, but enough to hold her own. Enough to win the approval of the queen?

"She's kind," Ahsoka assured her. "She'll love you."

"Soka is a personal friend of Queen Padme," said Kaydel with easy cheerfulness.

Rey knew this already. They'd been using it to reassure her every day since they arrived in town for the season. She herself saw how often Ahsoka left the house on some personal invitation from the queen, for games or luncheon or merely conversation.

Really, Rey couldn't fathom what a queen would find useful or attractive in a young woman at least two generations her junior, but the companionship persisted nonetheless.

At last the servants tied the elegant ribbon around Rey's neck, concealing her scent glands, and she was ready. The ribbon was necessary for the young, unmated omegas of the court. They were symbols of modesty and chastity, and no unbitten omega was to be seen at any society function without one.

Kaydel had relished telling Rey about all the scandalous moments in years past when some omega or other had allowed an alpha to remove their courting ribbon. Meanwhile Rey, a creature of distant highlands and lonely old houses where society did not impose its rules, found the whole notion of ribbons protecting their virtue rather amusing. She knew better, however, than to voice these opinions to any of the siblings.

Ahsoka and Bo wore theirs already.

The whole party of young women made their way downstairs where they were met by Din, whose young son was perched upon his shoulders like a triumphant horseman on his destrier. Like his father, Din lost his mate in the childbed. Unlike his father, he did not seem inclined to take another. And Rey felt a great deal of compassion for him. He always demonstrated an easy, unaffected kindness towards her, and undeniable sweet affection for his son.

"Ladies," he said mildly, with an inclination of his head.

Ahsoka moved ahead and took her brother's arm. The child perched on his shoulders held on tight as his father and aunt led the company out to the carriages waiting beyond. Ezra, Kin, and the young Temiri were there as well, standing beside their father.

The first time Rey saw Uncle Chewie, as she'd been taught to call him, she'd been a young girl of five or six — and she really believed for all the world that he was a bear. Surely, thought she, no human being could ever be so big. Towering far above any other man she'd ever met, large of bone and body, bristling with brown beard and head hair. But for her initial fear, his warmth with her grandfather and kindness towards her soon won her over, and by and by he became her favorite visitor.

He was a man of few words, which suited Rey quite well, as far as guardians went. When he smiled at her now, she saw all the praise a girl could ever hope for, and smiled too in response. He looked proud of her. She couldn't remember the last time anyone looked at her with pride.

Chewie helped her into the carriage, and Ahsoka, Bo, and Din after her. He would ride in another, and the rest of the family in a third. A nurse came and took Din's son back inside. Court was no place for the very young and very restless.

The whole entourage departed the town house and made their way to the palace. A few other families went thither as well — the Damerons, the Ticos, and Lord Calrissian too. They all had daughters to present to the court this year. And so when the large family arrived, they found other carriages and other families arriving with them.

Everyone greeted one another with the warmth of old friends who haven't seen each other in a long time.

"Din!" said the eldest of the two Dameron children — a young man of olive complexion and thick dark hair. He grinned and greeted the eldest Bacca offspring with a hearty thump on the back.

"Poe," Din replied with a grin.

His scent was all alpha, and Rey unconsciously shied away from him, and everyone really, who began to crowd around. Her nose stung with too much information all at once, alpha and omega, and she was grateful when Chewie barked at his brood to keep it moving, they didn't wish to be late.

They waited in the vestibule of the palace, Ashoka and Chewie on either side. Ordinarily, a mother would have the honor of presenting her before the queen — but as Rey had no mother, and Chewie no mate, the duty fell somewhere in the hazy middle, where both father and daughter picked it up again.

"Are you nervous?" asked the girl waiting to go in front of them — a lovely omega woman about Rey's own age, arrayed in a yellow-and-cream gown. She smiled back at Rey with a cheerful, if nervous look.

"I am," she continued rapidly. "I swear I could pass out right here from fright alone."

"Rose," her mother hissed at her, mortified at her daughter's honesty.

Rey smiled. "Yes, I'm nervous too."

Rose gave her a grateful glance, and another quick smile.

The Damerons headed in first, presenting their secondborn, a daughter called Millicent. Rey had no idea how the girl was received, as she and Rose still waited in the vestibule.

Lord Calrissian presented his daughter, Jannah. And afterwards, Mrs. Tico brought Rose before the queen. Rey waited, trying not to fidget, trying not to get herself caught up in the overpowering agitation of anxious omega scent permeating the vestibule. She'd been practicing her curtsey, thanks to the instruction of the Bacca daughters. With quick, nervous thoughts, she tried to remember all the rules of decorum when coming face to face with a queen.

"Miss Rey Kenobi," the herald inside announced, "presented by the right honorable Count Chester Wallace Bacca and his daughter, Miss Ahsoka Tano Bacca."

 _Breathe,_ Rey reminded herself as the doors opened and careful, measured footsteps carried her over the threshold. Into the hall of courtiers she went, flanked on either side by curious faces and regal attire. Slightly behind her, Ahsoka and Chewie followed. Ahead — the dais and the throne of Queen Padme.

The queen herself wore a large gown of silver and gold, glittering in the light like a seasoned fae empress come into the human world. She wore a large gray wig, piled in an exotic, dramatic fashion atop her powdered white head. Rey knew from her grandfather's stories that Queen Padme used to be a rare beauty, and even now that youth and brilliance managed to shine past decades of smiles and frowns wrinkling that once lovely visage.

Those dark eyes landed on the young woman with a singular weight, and Rey could feel herself being judged in that weight. Much to her own surprise, however, she felt suddenly quite equal to this daunting task. The expression on the queen's face was not hostile, and something inside Rey stirred with a peculiar instinct that Queen Padme was more ally than foe.

Arriving at the designated spot a few feet from the base of the dais, she paused and dropped into a deep, fluid curtsy. There she held herself, gaze fixed on the floor, mindful of her breath and the presence of her companions behind her. The rest of the family was assembled in the audience, and knowing they were there and cheering her on gave her a twinge of pleasure. What a strange and wonderful thing it was to have something like a family.

The queen stood, and the mood in the room shifted. Tension and energy buzzed through the whole of it, not unlike astonished anticipation.

Rey didn't look up. She kept her gaze fixed where it was, mindful only of the rustling of the queen's ample skirts, until those very skirts were before her. With a single finger under her chin, the queen tilted Rey's face up to hers, and slowly coaxed the girl out of her curtsey.

And true to instinct, Padme wore a smile of goodwill, not disapproval. "Just perfect, my dear. Your grandfather would be proud."

A flush of heat and color stole into Rey's cheeks, but she said nothing.

Glancing beyond her, the queen said to Ahsoka, "You must bring her with you the next time you come. I must better acquaint myself with the heir of my old friend."

"I will," said Ahsoka softly.

With that, the queen withdrew her hand, leaned in to give Rey a single kiss on the forehead, and turned to ascend her dais once more. The kiss left behind faint traces of faded omega scent, too far gone now to distinguish individual notes, but distinctly _omega_ nonetheless. It gave Rey a moment of reflection, realizing that even crown princesses must be part of that necessary mating ritual in quest to find their alphas.

When the queen was seated again, the company of three walked backwards a short distance, and then turned and left the room with the faint rasp of whispers all around them.

"She favored you," Ahsoka whispered when the door closed behind them. "You'll be considered this season's diamond."

"What does that mean?" replied Rey.

Chewie gave her a pat, a smile, and then wandered off according to his own whims. Perhaps he went to find old friends to speak to.

Ahsoka watched him go with a raised brow. "It means my father will have to be vigilant, because you'll have every alpha in the tonn begging to court you."

Wrinkling her nose, Rey cast her mind about answers as to why such a prospect would be so desirable. She found none. "And that is a good thing?"

Ahsoka laughed. "Of course it is. It's the most important power an omega can have. You'll have your pick of any of them. You'll see. Just wait until the first ball."

X X X X X X X X

Later that very day, in a household so vastly different from that of Count Bacca that the two could hardly be compared, another family affair commenced with the arrival of a single man on horseback.

He dismounted and gave a cursory nod to the groom who came to fetch his horse. The boy performed his task without glancing up at the newcomer, nervous energy in all his movements. This was hardly surprising, as most of the household felt similarly uneasy in the presence of this particular young gentleman. Just at the rider was beginning to turn away, he was met by a woman coming down the steps of the mansion.

"Well," she said with an arch look. "Isn't this a sight for my sore eyes."

She opened her arms, and when he stepped in closer, he leaned into her embrace for a brief — if stiff — kiss on her cheek.

"Mother," he said coolly.

"Ben," replied she. "I'm surprised you came."

"You summoned me."

"So I did. But I did not expect you to comply. You never have before." The reproach in this was unmistakable.

The young man turned his face away and let his gaze travel the well-attended grounds of the manse. "Even I know better than to refuse your request when it has _her_ command behind it. What does she want?"

"To discuss the succession, of course," said Leia, the mother of the deliberately detached young man.

He ought, perhaps, to have treated her with a bit more gentle deference. It had been a long time since he'd seen her, and they'd parted badly before the absence. But Bennet Skywalker-Solo, Marquess of Organa, did not bear much filial pride to recommend him in easily overcoming the grudges of the past with regards to his own mother.

"I won't discuss that again," he informed her without any warmth.

Leia frowned. "You will discuss anything your grandmother wishes."

Ben sighed and pulled off his riding gloves. "When does she wish to see me?"

"Immediately. She finished with the debutants this morning, and will already be informed of your arrival."

"The timing of all this, mother…" he said with low warning in his voice. "Do not lie, I see your mischief. You mean to trap me here for the Season."

But she, the smaller of the two by almost half, merely shook her head in a dismissive gesture. "See whatever mischief you want in it, but you're here now, and I at least expect you to attend tonight's ball at the Damerons."

"No."

"Yes," she insisted, iron laced into her tone.

And her designation notwithstanding, the omega mother managed to issue her insistence in such a manner as to compel her grown alpha son to obey. He rolled his eyes but did not protest again.

"By having me there, you'll only excite them all. Why?"

"A little excitement is good for them," she quipped.

His mouth tightened, but he did not contradict her. Instead he asked, "Father?"

"Away on business."

"Of course."

With this stiff formality out of the way, the pair went inside and briefly parted to prepare for their audience with Ben's grandmother. It did not take long. Ben changed out of his riding clothes and into the finer attire they still kept for him at his mother's home. He had not needed them during his travels over the last few years. They still fit well enough, though he felt the onus of them the moment they vested his shoulders.

This was precisely what he'd been running from all this time, and a kernel of resentment curled into his chest to have been ensnared so easily the moment he condescended to return.

Still, there was nothing to be done about it. They'd caught him here, and even though he could make a fuss and leave again straightaway, Ben's quarrel with his mother did not extend to his grandmother, and he could not, in good conscience, so offend her.

So they went. A chaise took them to the palace, wherefrom all the peerage had gone in preparation for the Dameron ball that night. They disembarked and allowed a footman to lead them inside, where they were received by an underbutler and shown into the queen's private apartments.

There they waited for her. Ben paced restlessly around the room, too agitated to sit. His blood ran too hot, and compelled him to action even when there was none to be had. It made him ill-suited to the life his family kept trying to prescribe for him — something his mother knew all too well herself. He didn't understand why she kept trying to tie him into it, knowing what he was.

By and by the queen entered, looking as regal as ever. And Ben's impatience temporarily fell by the wayside, for the irrepressible affection that welled up in him at the sight of her.

"My Benji," she said fondly, approaching him.

He hugged her — one of the few people in the whole of the kingdom allowed to do so. And the boyish heart inside him exulted at the preference of this woman who had so enchanted his days as a child. He loved her. It couldn't be helped.

"Grandmother," he replied when she let him go. "You look well."

She smiled a cheeky sort of smile. "I am very well. I've had a marvelous morning. The debutants this year are singularly lovely — and there is a surprise among them."

Ben lifted a brow. "Forgive me, ma'am, but that seems doubtful. What surprises can there be in the monotony of society's eligible omega daughters?"

Padme laughed. She went to greet her daughter next, and then bade them all to sit with her in her little salon. This was an informal family conversation, and she dismissed her team of servants with a light gesture, arranging it so they could finally speak alone.

"The surprise," said she, "is the re-emergence of one I thought to be entirely lost."

"Who could that be?" Leia asked in some wonder.

Padme wore all the expression of a gleeful child with a secret. She leaned forward as best her ample dress could allow. "A Kenobi."

The name fell with greater impact for Leia than it did her son. Ben had heard the name all his life, but had never met the man associated with it. Benedict Kenobi, Duke of some title or other, was Ben's own namesake, but he had disappeared with his wife some several decades ago. He'd given up his title and gone off for a quieter life somewhere, away from the gossip of the landed gentry.

Not that Ben could exactly blame him for that. It sounded wonderful. But no one had ever heard from him again.

"Chewie has discovered his heir," said Padme with delight. "Apparently he's known of her all this time. I don't yet know the details, but that her parents died long ago and she was entrusted to the protection of her grandfather. Poor Ben died a few years ago, and Chewie only recently learned of it. When he did, he went straightaway to collect the poor creature and bring her into his household. I met her today. She is beautiful. Just like her grandfather."

"I wonder that any young woman who strongly resembles an old man can be beautiful," Ben mused with passing interest.

Leia cut him a sharp look. Padme just laughed.

"She will be the most eligible omega this season," the queen foretold happily. "Her good breeding will only be the first of her many charms. Alphas will be lined up all night for the chance to dance with her."

"I pity her, then," yawned Ben.

While his mother and grandmother further discussed the oddity of a Kenobi heir appearing, he stole some fruit off the platter laid out for his grandmother's enjoyment. He wouldn't interrupt them by reminding them of their true purpose here. The longer he could put that off, the better. It would only cause an argument, and Ben wasn't prepared to provoke an argument in a place where he couldn't physically vent his frustration.

It couldn't be put off forever, though, and soon enough his grandmother turned to him and said: "I'm glad you came, Bennet. There is something very important we must discuss."

"I was afraid you'd say that," replied he. "I warn you, the answer I give may not be the answer you wish to receive."

Padme smiled. "I have little doubt that you will do your duty, after much protesting. But let me illustrate my situation so you may understand my request. Your uncle, my heir, has expressed his desire to me on numerous occasions to renounce his claim to the throne. I have resisted him thus far, knowing your mother does not desire the inheritance to pass to her either — and truthfully, your father, though an excellent sort of man in his own way, is no more suited to the role of prince consort than your grandfather was."

"No more am I suited to the role of heir," Ben said sullenly.

Padme continued as if she had not heard him. "But the fact of the matter is, Luke still has not taken a mate nor sired and heir, and he has become entangled with an alpha woman. He says he loves her, and I believe he does. Nevertheless their felicity in romance can never be the domestic felicity this crown needs. Two alphas cannot have children. Luke begins to say he would rather marry Mara than be king, and that it is no sacrifice to never have any pups of his own. I have stood in the way of his happiness long enough, and I will tell you now, my beloved Benji, that I intend to grant his requests."

Ben struggled, and largely failed, not to feel an inordinate amount of resentment towards his derelict prince of an uncle, so prone to flights of fancy that he rarely ever thought of the practical concerns of the present. His foolishness was going to cost Ben his own freedom, he could well see it.

"I would like to name you my heir, Bennet," said his grandmother, coming to the icy truth of it at last.

"And I would like to decline," said Ben firmly. "I have no intention of ever being king. Or, for that matter, taking a mate or producing heirs of my own."

Leia made an impatient noise. "Honestly, Ben, how can you talk so?"

"Very easily, ma'am," said Ben with some heat of emotion driving him to his feet. "I'm my grandfather's image, how many times have I heard it? And how many times have I heard how ill-suited he was? How am I any better candidate?"

"You have not yet learned to rein in your instincts," Padme acknowledged. "But I do not intend to die any time in the near future, and you have time to become the man I need you to be."

"I don't want to be anyone other than I am," he retorted irritably. This was always the way with them — always exhorting him to be better than his base nature. But his base nature was powerful and raw, and Ben struggled to contain it on a daily basis. His inner alpha beast burned alive with needs he could never fulfill, not just twice a year during those intolerable days of indisposition, but all the time. In every moment.

"And furthermore," he added, seeing that they still wished to protest, "This family has a checkered history as it is. I will not contribute to our legacy of wild impropriety. No future generation will come through me."

Leia scoffed, and Padme fashioned upon her face a patient smile. She glanced first at her daughter, and then at her grandson. "I believe you feel this way, Bennet, because you've not yet taken a mate. An omega can have a wonderfully stabilizing effect on an unbalanced alpha."

"I'm not taking an omega, grandmother," he repeated.

"I believe that is quite beyond your power," she said with some enjoyment. "Should you meet the right one, you would be utterly helpless and your word would crumble."

"There is no such omega." Of this he was certain. His determination was as firmly cast as iron, and no one, and nothing could sway him.

"I know your father is fond of wagers," Padme said, interested now. "How about one between you and me?"

"What sort of wager?"

"I'll wager that you can't last one season here in town without taking a mate. If I'm right, you'll be my heir and produce heirs of your own. And if I am wrong and you prevail, I'll let the crown pass to one of your distant cousins and never breathe a word of it again."

Now this was a highly tempting offer. Ben had no doubt of his ability to withhold his bite and keep all of society's omegas at arm's length, so that hardly gave him concern. The real allure of it was the promise of permanent freedom. They'd been at him for years to consider replacing his uncle as heir, and no amount of protestation from him could dissuade them. If they'd really drop it forever, and after so easy a victory too…

"Fine," he said after some deliberation. "I'll make that wager with you."

Padme grinned gleefully and got to her feet. She thrust her hand at him in the official gesture of making a deal, and he took it. Then, because she was the queen, and his grandmother, he pulled her hand to his lips and dropped a kiss on her knuckles with a wicked grin.

"You've no idea how secure I am in my victory," he told her.

She laughed. "You've no idea of how much danger you really are in, my boy."


	2. Chapter 2

_Dearest Reader,_

_The opening ball at Lord Dameron's estate, thrown every year for the eager young people and their marriage-minded parents, is always the first and perhaps most important event of the season. Invitations are highly prized. Here is the first opportunity for the young and unmated to display their virtues and good breeding before a bevy of eager potential partners. The chaste, virtuous omega and the chivalrous, honorable alphas, all set in a scene so beautiful as Dameron House, cannot fail to find at least one or two agreeable prospects in the course of the evening._

_The new players on the stage have all been approved just this morning by the discerning eye of our beloved queen, and among them, one particular bloom to outshine the rest. The mysterious new ward of the Bacca family, Miss Kenobi, earned the queen's special regard and sealed her place as the most desirable omega of the season. Many questions regarding the young lady and her history yet remain, but these practically fade to irrelevance now that she has the queen's blessing. She will be a prize for any alpha, and a boon to any family tree._

_Perhaps a quick match on her end will persuade her new family to follow suit, setting the example for the reticent elders and the soon-to-come youngers. The estimable Count and his good family will undoubtedly receive so many alpha callers as not seen since Miss Bacca's own debut season so very many years ago. Perhaps they will finally have a wedding after all._

_And no less exciting are the other debutants of the season, omegas of the very best families ready to see what alphas can be snatched away from the suit of Miss Kenobi. One this is certain, dear reader: tonight's ball will most certainly be an event to remember. And you will read every detail here on the morrow._

_Fond regards,_

_Lady Appleknot_

**X X X X X X X X**

Kaydel finished reading the latest installment of Appleknot's gossip, imposing the displeasure of all those words onto her siblings sitting around the parlor. Their father, off in the corner with one of his books, hardly looked up. Upon the conclusion of her read, the girl huffed with serious displeasure and cast upon her sisters a critical look.

"You see?"

Rey, also curled up on a sofa with a book, had listened to the report with burning cheeks and a determination to feign disinterest — though in truth, she'd never been more mortified. So much attention on her, for something quite as out of control as the queen's favor, induced in her a feeling of deep uneasiness. This author assumed too much. She wrote as if it were somehow virtues and character intimately known by Queen Padme which had won Rey this special regard. It wasn't. The queen knew nothing of her at all, only what she saw.

Ahsoka just laughed. "Kay, you put too much weight on that woman's words. They're idle gossip, nothing more."

"Gossip _everyone_ is listening to," Kaydel said with great emphasis. "Rey will be swarmed tonight. The rumors of what happened at the palace are already spreading as fast as this column can travel. I already had a note from Tallie congratulating me on having such a favorite for a new sister, and telling me that everyone was ready to see her in person at the ball. You can't dismiss this writer, Soka. Everyone is reading and heeding her words."

Rey swallowed hard and set her book down on her lap to study the faces of her foster sisters. Bo, embroidering with all the vigor of a swordsman at play, stabbed at her canvas with a bitter sort of smirk. Ahsoka seemed perfectly untroubled. Kaydel, however, looked quite vexed.

"I knew she'd bring you two into this," said the younger. "Why can't you both just marry already? Will I have to suffer from your shadows when I too come out next year? It's quite unfair that they should bring you up every time a new omega of our household enters society. If Rey doesn't marry this season, they'll assume that I too come out only to sample the field and never commit, just like all my three sisters before me. And I assure you, that is not my intention at all."

She sat down on the sofa beside Rey in quite an emphatic fashion, crossing her arms and giving her sisters a most serious glare.

"I'm sorry," Rey told the elder two. "That my being here has thrown you both into the spotlight at well."

Ahsoka waved her off. "We've been the subjects of gossip for too long now to care, darling. Do not worry for us."

Ezra, at a game of backgammon with Kin, chuckled. "It really is quite unfair of this Appleknot woman to focus so singularly on the omegas of this family. Din, perhaps, gets by on his own personal tragedy, but nary a word is said about me and my unwillingness to choose an omega for two seasons now."

"She didn't actually say omegas, Ez," replied Bo. "She only said elders and youngers. I think you are very much implicated."

"Can't believe no one in this family wants to marry except me," Kaydel grumbled with no small resentment. She looked over at Rey. "You won't add to our legacy of celibacy, will you? You at least are looking for a mate?"

Rey did not know exactly how to answer that question, so she just gave Kaydel a small smile and said, "If you were but a few months older, we could be out together, and that would really given them reason to talk."

The distraction worked, and Kaydel's eyes shone with starry wonder. "Oh! Can you imagine it? We would catch every eye in the Ton. Alphas would be lined up around the block to speak to us, and we could have our pick of any of them!"

Din's young son toddled up to Rey with a little rubber ball in hand, sparing her from engaging any further in the conversation. She got down onto the floor to play with him, taking the ball so she could toss it. He giggled and ran after it. He was a most lovely child, and Rey was glad for the excuse to do something else for a while.

She did not relish being the subject of town gossip. She did not know how to conduct herself during such a time they all called the _m_ _ating season_. She did not know what exactly her foster father expected of her in this arena. Did he hope she would marry well, and free him from of the burden of her care? Rey's life before arriving in his household hadn't well-prepared her for the life of a matured, adult omega. She'd not been given any instruction or information regarding the prospect of one day having a mate, and so had not often thought of it. Oh, she begged for an alpha during those terrible days of indisposition, like any omega, but she did not know why she said it or whom exactly she called for.

Long ago, in far less civilized times, every spring turned into a violent, chaotic season of barbarism. When omegas came into that special season where they were more amenable to alpha attention, and alphas were seized by an irrepressible urge to bite and claim, towns, villages, and entire countrysides would be thrown into disarray while the young and unmated ran around trying to catch one another. Alphas would sometimes fight each other to the death for the chance to mate an omega. Biology could undo in a handful of weeks what society had endeavored to overcome for centuries.

Now, of course, times were far more advanced. People had evolved to maintain enough control during these mad mating seasons to observe societal rules of modesty and decorum during courtship. But nature did not cease to exist, and every spring it still demanded the forging of the next link in the great human chain, the next generation ensured.

Rey knew there were deep, ancestral instincts buried inside her that would probably overpower her choice one day. But it wasn't happening yet, and she felt nothing towards any alpha that she did not also feel for any other person, beta or omega. The urge in her to find a mate had not yet awoken.

Still, she was here now, part of this family, part of this society and its expectations. She would attend the ball, and she would see what became of all of these civilized trappings disguising an ancient hunt.

**X X X X X X X X**

Chewie, having occasion to be tied up with business, sent Din to chaperone Rey for the evening in his stead. Din would have to field all the potentially interested suitors — no small task indeed in a room full of ambitious alphas. Chewie's height and strength might have made him a more formidable opponent, but Din was a quick fighter and he could stop an opportunist if he needed.

No one expected that to happen, of course, but alphas did tend to lose their heads now and then when the right omega scent caught him by surprise.

And speaking of scents — Rey, as well as her foster sisters, had taken great care to apply the masking oil to reduce, but not fully disguise, their scents. So many unmated omegas and alphas in a room could potentially throw more than a few of them into that regrettable time of indisposition, and create a violent scene. But everyone knew that a proper degree of caution could prevent any truly regrettable accidents, so every demi-human in attendance had applied the right oil over their glands to dull the potency of their signature scents.

It had happened before that one alpha, or one omega, was yet still overcome and had to be carried away and secluded until the time of their madness had passed. But such scenes, while scandalously discussed with all the excitement of good gossip, were rare.

Still, Chewie instructed Din to be wary and watchful, and both the sons and all the daughters dulled their scents and either lifted their collars or tied their courting ribbons to hide their glands.

The scene, well underway by the time the Bacca children arrived at Dameron House, was resplendent. Within the hall, couples swirled about in clouds of social nicities in the finest apparel money could buy. They drank from delicate flutes, they ate the tiny portions of food acquired between smiles and flirtatious looks, and when they were so inclined, they joined the couples dancing a reel in the center of the room. Musicians in the corner provided an orchestral excuse for such dancing, and servants wandered here and there offering refreshment.

The surest way to keep alphas and omegas in high spirits, especially when the risk of losing control was so great, was to keep them well-fed.

When they entered, however, almost every eye in the room turned towards them. Although conversations tried to continue, and the music played on, everyone who could spare the attention gave it to the Bacca group. Din, Ahsoka, Bo, Ezra — and Rey. And really it was to the latter of them all where most of the curiosity fixed.

For here she was, the mysterious benefactor of the Count's generosity. The favorite of the queen this year. A most eligible omega, desirable above all others. At least, that's how they thought of her, thanks in no small part to Lady Appleknot's report of the debut that morning.

Din, through whose arm Rey had looped her own, tensed beside her. She could detect the faintest shift in his muted alpha musk, a rise of territorial anxiety that made her glance his way.

"Calm down," said Ahsoka breezily, also detecting the change. "They won't all jump her at once."

But someone was fast approaching already. Poe Dameron, the alpha from that morning. He gave Din a wide smile and low bow.

"Old friend," he said jovially.

Din, unlike this morning, did not smile. "Dameron," he said with caution.

Bo and Ezra exchanged glances and moved off to join the party without a word. Ahsoka too, giving Rey a quick look of encouragement, drifted away.

"And you must be Miss Kenobi," said Poe, turning his attention on Rey with eagerness. "I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself this morning. It didn't seem appropriate in those circumstances. I'm Poe Dameron—"

"She's not interested in you," Din said rather rudely.

"Easy there, Djarin," said Poe, cocking his head to the side and holding up two unthreatening hands. "We've known each other a long time. You know what kind of man I am. I've no ill-intentions towards your...sister...cousin...whatever she is to you. I only want to know if she'd honor me with a dance."

Rey thought it was a decidedly ill-conceived idea to have one alpha, however previous mated, in charge of the safekeeping of an omega. His instincts to protect were overwhelming, and Poe's to solicit courtship equally powerful. It was a charged situation. Both men stared at one another, perhaps posturing, and Rey was free to consider for some tense seconds whether or not she actually wanted to accept Poe's half-given invitation or not. He was handsome enough, to be sure, but she didn't much find anything else about him tempting. His scent was as unappealing as it had been that morning, if a little less abrasive.

"Did your sister do well before the queen today?" Rey asked, impulse compelling her to intervene.

Poe's attention snapped from Din to her, the question breaking that unspoken conflict. He inclined his head graciously. "She did, yes, I thank you. Though not as well as you did, or so I hear."

"Millicent, wasn't it?" Rey looked around the room. "Is she here? I should like to meet her."

Poe blinked in surprise. "I...will go and find her. I'm sure she'd like to meet you too."

With that, he turned and wandered away. Rey glanced up at Din. "Are you going to act like that all night?"

He rolled his shoulders, apparently shaking off his aggression. "Like what?"

"I can take care of myself, you know."

He sized her up doubtfully. Just then, another young man approached. He, perhaps, had not chosen to apply much by way of masking oil, because his alpha scent was much stronger than the others, and decidedly unpleasant. It reminded her of that ill feeling of waking up with a raging headache.

He too bowed, as Poe had, but before he could even open his mouth, Din told him that anyone with as much debt as he'd incurred had better set his sights elsewhere.

"Isn't the point of this whole _season_ to get me a mate?" Rey asked, despite that on this point, she remained unconvinced. "How do you propose to do that if you chase away every prospect before he may even open his mouth?"

Her life of solitude before, while unbearably lonely, hadn't seem to want for lack of an alpha. She could be contented with just having friends. Indeed, during the course of the afternoon, she had decided that her chief aim here tonight would be to find pleasing associations. Whether or not she found an alpha, or _the_ alpha, was immaterial. Mostly she wanted to form acquaintances with whom she could pass a pleasant evening.

Din was making that difficult, radiating waves of hostility as he was. Alpha, omega, beta, nobody would want to some near someone with so unpleasant an expression glowering there on his face.

"The point is that you need to find a _worthy_ mate," he replied. "I know too much about too many of these alphas."

"And who are you to judge who might be worthy of me? You've only known me a few months."

"I hold you in the same esteem as any of my sisters. Nobody here is suitable for them, either, as you have seen."

Rey rolled her eyes. She knew it was an unbecoming act, but she'd not had anyone to check her of the habit in many years. "If I'm to be a spinster as they are — which is by no means disagreeable, to be sure — you must at least allow me to find some friends. They, at least, have that comfort here."

At that, Din looked properly chastened. "If it is friends you desire, I have no place to intervene. But you see how the alphas look at you. That Appleknot woman marked you as a desirable addition to any family line. Allow me to be a buffer against them, at least."

"Djarin," said a lyrical dark voice behind them.

They turned, and there, standing quite short, was a wizened old woman with small eyes and a knowing little smirk.

Din cleared his throat and said altogether too formally: "Ah, Lady Kanata. How are you this evening?"

"I'm quite well, thank you. How is your father?" A funny kind of sparkle illuminated her eyes and her funny kind of smile grew. As if she kept some delightful secret.

"He's well. He regrets that he could not be here, of course."

"Yes, I'm sure." She turned her attention upon Rey. "Good evening, dear. We've not had the pleasure, but I hear wonderful things of you. Why are you not dancing with every alpha in the room?"

Rey opened her mouth to reply, but Din superseded her.

"We're waiting for the right partner," said he dismissively. "All in good time."

The old woman sighed and shook her head, muttering something about "poor dear," as she turned and wandered away.

Rey watched her go with some curiosity, and a little vexation. "Who was that?"

"Lady Maz Kanata. She knows everything about everyone. And you'll soon find that she and my father share an...an understanding, I suppose." His mouth twisted in a disapproving line.

Rey did not know exactly what that meant, nor was she inclined to inquire further at this time. Instead she said with not a little censure, "In the future, cousin, I would not speak for me again if I were you. Allow me to answer my own questions."

He nodded once, and Rey did not know if it was in accord or dismissal. Instead he cast his gaze about the room, and then nodded at a little pocket of ladies. "There. The Tico sisters might be good friends for you. Shall we take a turn nearer them?"

"Let's," agreed Rey.

So they did, and Din still warded off those alphas who attempted to approach. Two ventured to try, a red-headed fop and a very polished, very handsome young man. Din bore his teeth and grimaced them both away. Rey caught a thread of terribly pleasant scent wafting through the crowd, turning her head involuntarily to search for the alpha to whom it belonged — but it was a hopeless task. It might have been one of those two just now chased away, or it might belong to someone else entirely. There were simply too many people in too close a space to discern among them if she was not directly engaged in conversation. Still, the feeling of the scent lingered with her for a little while, like a burst of peaceful assurance that all would be well, that _alpha is here_.

She did not have long to contemplate it, as the moment they got close to the Tico sisters and their companion, the three women stopped their conversation and turned.

"My lord Bacca," said the elder of the sisters with a smile. "Good to see you again."

"Miss Tico," he said with a curt nod. "Miss Rose. Miss Pava. May I present you to my cousin, Lady Rey Kenobi."

The younger of the sisters was the very same Rose with whom Rey had spoken only that morning. This was a most agreeable surprise, and she smiled accordingly.

"Hello," Rose bubbled, apparently in equal delight for the opportunity to speak again.

Din separated himself from Rey's side and leaned his head down to her. "I'm going to check on my sisters. Will you be alright here for a moment?"

"I'll be fine," Rey assured him with patience and a little wry humor.

She wasn't sorry to see him go. A protective alpha was altogether overbearing, she decided.

"How are you not dancing with every alpha in the room already?" Rose asked with wide eyes. "The favorite of the queen! You should have a dance card filled to the brim already."

Rey motioned vaguely after Din. "I was given a temperamental chaperone. But what about you? Rose, you look divine. Do you have suitors lined up to dance with you?"

At the compliment, Rose blushed and gave her sister a pleased smile. "I've danced once with Armitage Hux. He was kind, though I admit his scent wasn't quite what I thought a mate's should be. But I admit, mostly I've been using Paige and Jessika here as a shield. I'm so nervous."

Rey looked around the room with skeptical surveillance. "What is there to be nervous about? All I see are a bunch of very proud alphas peacocking around the room."

Miss Pava, the one Rose called Jessika, laughed. "Peacocking is part of the game, Miss Kenobi. How are we to pick which ones we like best if they don't show us how much more gentlemanly they are than their rivals?"

A pair of alphas was making their way towards the ladies now. One of them was that very same Poe Dameron.

"Here comes Mister Storm," Paige whispered to Rose conspiratorially. "Perhaps he means to ask you to dance."

Rey observed the other man with a curious look. Deep brown skin, consternation scrawled over his brow, a distinct lack of pride carried in his shoulders. And to her great surprise, upon turning her attention back to her new companions, she saw the younger sister _blush_.

"Oh no, not me. Not with Miss Kenobi here, surely," said Rose. "She's the diamond of the season. They move this way for her."

Quickly, to spare any awkwardness on any part, Rey dispatched herself from the situation. She made excuses about going to find Din, but she did no such thing. Instead she went to the refreshment table to find a glass of champagne. From there, she could observe with real pleasure that only Dameron looked to see where she'd gone before soliciting Miss Pava for a dance, and Storm did not look for her at all. He bowed and made overtures to Rose, who blushed furiously anew and let him lead her to the dance.

Rey sighed with relief. She did not want a budding new friendship spoiled by misplaced alpha attention and jealousy. And a happy side effect of her choice to slip away: she found herself happily alone for a few blessed minutes. A few alphas glanced her way, but none approached.

That suited her just as well, but gave her some amusement wondering if word had already spread of the cantankerous foster brother she had guarding her.

But then — one did approach at last. And Rey's stomach dropped in disgust. For this alpha, and he did reek distinctly of that designation, was at least three times as old as she, perhaps more. His body was aged and sickly thin, his scent oppressively strong and evoking an unmistakable feeling of danger in her, and his face badly marred by either very poor breeding or too much violence, twisting his expression into a look of hideous cruelty and licentiousness. And he was leering at her.

"Miss Kenobi," he said in a dangerous sort of purr. "I have heard much about you, but none of the compliments did justice to your beauty."

"Forgive me, sir," said she with a concerted effort at civility. The wild creature in her chest, too used to years of relative freedom and too few consequences for liberalness of thought and speech, wanted to snap at him to go away. She had to remind herself that she had no justification for being so unkind, except the alarmed warnings of her inner omega telling her to get somewhere safe. She continued: "For I fear I do not know you."

"I am Samael Snoke, Baron of Exegol," he said with a bow that was so labored as to appear quite painful.

Rey barely suppressed a grimace. "Does my cousin know you, Mister Snoke? Din Djarin, son of Count Bacca."

"I am not as well acquainted with the count's family as I ought to be," said the man. His smile was all wrong, just like the rest of him. "But perhaps we may remedy the absence of intimacy between our two households."

"Ah, sir, if you'll forgive me—" Rey said quickly, for she had abruptly become alarmed at his meaning and pretended to look beyond him, through the hosts of people. "I believe my cousin Bo is calling for me."

And with that, she darted past him. He turned and, with surprising vigor, tried to pursue her. She moved as quickly as decorum would allow, every now and then throwing a glance over her shoulder at the man threading his way through the crowd after her. A voice here or there tried to catch her attention or make an introduction, but she, mindful of being thought rude, made only half-mumbled excuses and tried to get as far away from the odious alpha as possible. And she knew how absurd her reaction to him was — he'd barely said a handful of words to her and she'd bolted — but something about his scent, and his look, made every facet of her hindbrain cry out with warning and urge her to find somewhere safe to hide.

And thusly distracted, in her haste she collided with some enormous monolith of a body and stumbled. Large hands caught and steadied her instinctively, even as she turned with a gasp and an apology half-falling from her lips.

It stuttered to a bit of a stall, her apology, and she looked at the face of the man she'd rudely run into. Dark hair, darker eyes, a frown pulling at a fine mouth, strong, unusual features. But more than his face, it was the scent of him which managed to render her temporarily speechless. A scent so powerful, it shot straight through her like lightning with every breath, electrifying every digit — indeed every nerve. A scent to quicken the blood and ignite the mind. The scent from before, filling her head, her mouth, her lungs. Helplessly she gulped more of it in, leaning toward him, drinking draughts of warm, inviting scent.

 _I found you,_ something inside her whispered.

Her companion seemed no less astonished, hands tightening on her arms where he'd grabbed her to steady her. His pupils dilated, and she wondered how she could even discern it in eyes so deep and dark as his.

" _You,_ " he said, drawing a slow, deliberate breath through his nose. His mouth fell open and he too pulled a lungful of air through it. He blinked once, like a man struggling to shake off a deep thought, and blinked again.

And then all at once, his expression of shock shifted into anger. The abruptness of it startled her. Hostility swamped those fine features and he let go as if he were disgusted to have found himself touching her at all.

"You should watch where you're going," he said with coldness.

Shocked out of her revere, she remembered the alpha from whom she was trying to escape, and threw a glance over her shoulder. Snoke had slowed, hampered by someone making him a polite inquiry. He stared her direction, frowning, suspicious, as he attempted to shrug off his interest conversation partner and make his way to Rey.

She turned back quickly before the large stranger could move away.

"I'm sorry, sir, my apologies for our collision. Tell me your name."

His frown deepened. By the gods, he truly did look so very angry. Like the offense at having been so assaulted could not be any higher. Or like her very existence repulsed him. He looked from her to the room around them and back again. "Do you honestly mean to insult us both by pretending that you do not already know who I am?"

Know who he was? Rey laughed at his arrogance. It couldn't be helped. The surprise of it provoked the incredulity right out of her with no deference to politeness. "Are you so mighty a prince, then, Sir, that you think every person in the world knows your name?"

His scowl stayed affixed and took a step backwards to give them some space. It did very little to reduce his mouth-watering scent, as invigorating and refreshing as a cool class of water after a long hot walk. A breeze of fresh summer air over an open meadow. How could the scent be so inviting as to make her almost wild with desperation to get more of it, and the man who made it so hostile as to make her feel as if he wished her unborn?

"Is that how you want to play it, omega?" said he, and a trail of chills raced down Rey's spine.

"I'm not playing anything, sir." Now her own vexation came through, irritation coloring her words. "In truth, I do not know you."

Muttering with unmistakable ill-humor under his breath, he complained: "Will they truly stoop so low in their attempts? Will they try _anything_ these days?"

Quite at a loss to know what to do with her disagreeable companion, Rey glanced once more behind her, satisfied to see that Snoke had paused entirely. He still watched, however, with a wary eye. And so she laughed and touched the stranger's arm as if he'd said something charming and delightful.

Her companion's furious looks suffered a moment's reprieve as he blinked in bewilderment. His eyes fell to the spot on his arm where she'd touched him, and then back again. "I admit, it's a new strategy, your habit of accosting your prey. But it doesn't say much for manners."

Rey colored, the heat pooling in her cheeks. Petulance rose in her chest in defense. "I'm not accosting you!"

"You've obviously got some design here, omega, but I've no wish to take part in any of it."

She wanted to remonstrate him for being rude enough to use designation instead of titles or honorifics or even just niceties, but every time he did it, something inside her came quite undone. She wanted to be angry at it, but it _felt good._

Swallowing, she rallied and tried to explain in as brief a review as possible: "I am trying to shake off unwanted attentions, and your conversation is forestalling him. That is why we are here. There's no design, and I don't particularly care who you are, except that you are rescuing me from someone loathsome."

That seemed to interest him, if the brief shift in his expression could be judged, but it only lasted a moment before he looked skeptical and angry again. For certain, Rey had never seen anyone so very molested by an innocent mistake and genuine apology. His offense was disproportionate to the crime. Or was he more offended that she did not know who he was? Yes, the arrogance he'd demonstrated in this quick encounter had given her enough of a picture of him to be sure that was exactly the offense.

He really was _so_ assured of his own fame that he failed to believe she'd not invented the story as an excuse. The vanity was breathtaking, and Rey was beginning to think she'd rather not know his name at all when someone called out—

"Solo!"

And then Din was making his way towards them with some eagerness. Rey braced herself for his arrival, and a renewal of that territorial guardianship he seemed intent on before. But there wasn't a single ounce of animosity about him when he got to them, only ease and friendliness as he greeted her companion.

"Djarin," said the stranger with the nearest thing to a smile she'd seen on him yet, though it was barely a softening of those angry muscles around his mouth. He seemed glad of the arrival of someone else. "It's been a long time."

"Too long," agreed Din. "They succeeded in drawing you back in, then?"

Although Solo, for that must have been his name, was at least a decade younger than Din himself, he seemed the superior of the two — whether by his rigidly stoic composure or the overwhelming _alpha-ness_ of him. His expression barely flickered at this laughing remark from his companion.

"As you see," he said. "Though it gives me no more pleasure than before."

"No doubt you've already been beset by every ambitious mother in the room," chuckled Din.

"More pity them," remarked Rey dryly, "they must be so disappointed when they learn what a charming conversationalist you are."

Solo glanced at her then, his irritated frown returning.

Din remembered her then. "Oh! Forgive me, you've not been introduced. Solo, this is my father's ward, Miss Rey Kenobi. She's not familiar with our court, so forgive any impropriety on her part. She comes from a long ways off. My father is sponsoring her debut, and I've been charged with keeping the alphas away this evening."

"That is _not_ what you were asked to do," said Rey firmly.

Din hardly heard her. "Rey, this is Lord Skywalker-Solo, Marquess of Organa. His mother is the Princess Organa, daughter of Queen Padme."

It required great effort on Rey's part not to let her astonishment or mortification show. That she'd been so bold, and so uncivil, with the grandson of the _queen!_ It was a very poor start to her place here in society. And no wonder he expected her to know his name. Everyone _would_ know his name. Still, it didn't excuse his own lack of civility, and it was to this last point she clung with the last shreds of her pride.

Solo looked at her with a cold nod. "I have heard your name mentioned, Miss Kenobi, by more than a few. I trust you will be successful in your endeavors here."

"Are you here for the entire season, Solo?" Din pressed, relieving Rey of the difficult chore of summoning an appropriate response.

"It would seem so." He didn't seem pleased about it.

Din found his distress amusing. He laughed. "Well, my condolences, then. Can I expect to see you at our club?"

"Yes, I imagine you will."

"Excellent. Evening then, Solo."

"Evening, Djarin. Miss Kenobi." With a very stiff sort of bow, he took his leave of them. Rey watched him go, and once saw him glance back over his shoulder at them.

She sighed. It couldn't be undone. She could not have picked a worse person to accidentally run into. His outsized anger and sense of injustice would make it back to the queen, perhaps, and her favor, curried only that very morning, would vanish. But Rey did not altogether feel that she was the one at fault. She'd apologized for her hasty collision, and she really was innocent in her ignorance of who he was. And really, how could such cold manners be allowed to persist in someone as important to the public eye as the grandson of the queen? Surely he'd been raised to be more polite than that? Queen Padme herself did not seem so austere. But then, perhaps her daughter was very proud, and had raised her son to be prouder still.

"Rey." Ahsoka had found them. She looked flushed and lovely. "Joph Seastriker means to solicit a dance from you."

"Too bad we've had quite enough fun for the evening," said Din. "What's gotten into you? You look as if you've been exerting yourself."

Ahsoka laughed. "It's nothing. I got into another argument with Maul, that's all. He always provokes my wrath, infuriating man."

Din sighed. "Poor Montgomery. Leave him alone. He doesn't need you buzzing around to vex him just because you like to be contrary."

" _He_ found me," she insisted. "He came looking for an argument, and I gave it to him."

"Has Bo also made a spectacle of herself?"

"I did not make a spectacle. It was all well-contained in the guise of conversation. And Bo has kept herself mainly to the company of her friends. Why do you never suppose it was Ezra who caused a scene?"

"Because Ezra never does anything interesting," said Din dismissively. "Stay if you wish, but Rey and I are going home."

Rey didn't protest, though she found it both disagreeable and also amusing that he would feel at liberty to speak for her again. She supposed he was used to it, being the head of the family while his father was not around. Rey _wasn't_ used to it, by any means. She'd been allowed to run wild in the years since her grandfather died, and having anyone assume authority over her now suited her very ill indeed.

Still, she thought that the solitude of her room sounded just tempting enough to convince her to hold her tongue and let Din take her home. She'd had enough of alphas tonight — the repugnant and the appealing both.

Ahsoka, however, was prepared to argue in her behalf. "You haven't let Rey dance with anyone all night! There's not an alpha here who wouldn't be glad to add their names to her card."

Yes, thought Rey with private amusement, there was one alpha. He would not put his name on her dance card for all the money in the world.

"That is precisely why she needs to come home," Din insisted. "The situation is too volatile. Can you sense it?"

"They're volatile because you're being territorial, and it's provoking a sense of challenge in all the alphas, to want to take her from you. Your aggression is triggering their aggression." Ahsoka gave her brother a very serious and hard look. "Better for Rey if you go home and leave her with me. Bo and I can look after her. She'll be alright."

"No," he said firmly.

Rey had quite enough of being spoken about as if she weren't there, and said pointedly, "Perhaps I can be trusted to make up my own mind about this?"

They both glanced at her, surprised.

"You'll do well to leave them all wanting more," Din advised, but said no more than this.

Rey rolled her eyes again. She glanced around the room. Rose was dancing and laughing — her sister Paige, and their companion Jessika, were also dancing. Everyone looked happy.

"I believe I've had my fill of this place," she said. "My aim was to make a friend or two, and I believe I've done that. I'll go with Din. But next time, cousin, I expect to be allowed to make my own judgements concerning partners."

Din inclined his head in acknowledgement. Ahsoka laughed. She let them go without further protest, and promised to see them later that night. Rey left, relieved to get away from a party where lurked an alpha who smelled like belonging, and who most definitely hated her.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Schemes and a family dinner

_Dearest Reader,_

_Since the exciting events of the Dameron ball, quite a fuss has arisen amongst the eligible alphas and omegas of the Ton. This author, while now and forever unknown to you, has endeavored to illustrate the whole of it for your understanding. In the first place, we have the surprise appearance of a long-absent Marquess of Organa. The favorite of our beloved queen has not been seen in Theed for many years, following a rather tempestuous adolescence and the early signs of an alarming reputation. Though the character of the now grown marquess are not yet known, no one who attended the Dameron ball can help but admire what a fine and handsome alpha he has become. Indeed many of the Ton's mothers attempted to introduce their omega daughters for his consideration, though what will come of it remains to be seen. It is noteworthy that Mister Solo chose not to dance with a single lady all evening._

_Nevertheless, it is unquestionable that other alpha bachelors must now work even harder to secure the attentions of their chosen omegas — as who can think of the sons of barons and earls when the grandson of the queen is on the market?_

_In a no less startling turn of events, this season's diamond of beauty, Miss Rey Kenobi, now confirmed as heiress of that old, noble household, was revealed to be quite unattainable during the whole course of the evening. And indeed throughout the subsequent days, every attempt by an eligible bachelor to get close to the young lady has been rebuffed by a temperamental older cousin, acting as a guardian in his father's stead. Such predicaments may be reasonably expected to arise when the care of an omega is given over to an alpha unrelated to her by blood. We can only hope that the jewel we all expected so much of can still manage to shine under the cover of her foster family's protective inclinations._

_For we would not wish for the favor of our queen to have been bestowed on a bloom already wilting. Nor, I imagine, would the queen herself wish it._

_As soon as further developments arise, dear reader, you may be assured that this author will be the first to break the news._

_With love,_

_Lady Appleknot._

**X X X X X X X X**

With everything taken into account, Rey found that she was not altogether displeased by Din's persistent strategy to keep all the alphas away. In the first place, she was certain that he did not even quite realize what he was doing. His motives were born from a place of pure instinct, and while there was no real jealousy or romantic attachment on the part of either of them (he was altogether too old for her, and he regarded her solely as a sister, or perhaps even a daughter) there was an undeniable and irrepressible urge to keep her safe from outside threats. And every human with a whiff of alpha pheramone was perceived as such a threat.

And in the second place, his intractability had the happy effect of removing her as a perceived rival from the minds of society's other omegas, some of whom therefore felt free to call on her in a social and friendly capacity. Rose, particularly, wished to become Rey's friend.

So while no suitors occupied the parlor of the Bacca's town home, it was no less filled with excitement and laughter as new friends came into her life. Rose brought her sister, and Millicent Dameron often came with them. She was a sweet girl, lively and cunning and very fierce. Rey liked her quite a lot. There was Jannah, the daughter of Lord Calrissian, and Jessika Pava who often brought her younger sister Tallie — a particular friend of Kaydel.

Rey enjoyed their company. She'd never had friends before, except for the Bacca children, and she found the association as stimulating and gratifying as it was exhausting. Kaydel, too, seemed to appreciate the company. So while Ahsoka and Bo went about their business and were rarely at home, Rey and Kaydel entertained their companions with all the excitement and warm hospitality such meetings deserved.

Too often, they spoke of alphas.

It was obvious from the start that all of the girls, with no exceptions among them, desired to find a mate. And as Rey had never given it much thought before coming into Uncle Chewie's household, she was desperately curious to know _why_.

"What do you mean, why?" Rose laughed one day when the question was put forth. "Because that's the whole point."

"The whole point of what?" said Rey.

"Of alphas and omegas. We're _meant_ to be together. That is why they have their madness and we have ours, and only together can we be free of it. Only together can we truly achieve our potential."

Potential. What a thing to say. What sort of potential could not be realized without the companionship of an alpha? Rey didn't particularly care for this explanation, even though the other girls appeared to agree. She knew what it was to experience that period of madness. She knew how terrible, how truly hellish, such times of wanting and needing and continual denial could be. They said alphas could help with that, but she did not know how.

"We're omegas, Rey," Kaydel rejoined. "Our purpose is to provide young."

"Do not misunderstand me, I don't reject the idea of having a family," she said quickly, by way of disclaimer before they could look at her in scandal, "but can that really be _all_ we are meant to do?"

"I suppose it depends on your alpha — or your parents," said Paige thoughtfully. "Some omegas have a great deal of power and influence. Our own queen is an omega. But some alphas don't allow their omegas to do anything but run their household."

"Which is precisely the kind of comfort some of us desire," said Tallie heatedly. "And that's nothing to be ridiculed."

"Of course it isn't," agreed Paige.

"It's alright to aspire to something more, too," Rose said encouragingly to Rey. "It's just hard to get away from the urge to find your alpha, when all of biology compels you to it."

Rey supposed that must be true. Except for that one tantalizing encounter with that irresistible scent at the Ball, the origin being that surly grandson of the queen, she'd never detected anything enticing about alphas at all. Still, she was not _opposed_ to the idea of finding a mate, necessarily. The idea of never being alone again was agreeable, to a point. As long as whoever he was did not try to control her, or tell her what she could and could not do, she might happily engage in the pursuit of conjugal felicity.

Still, she could not pretend to be sorry when their topics of conversation moved on to other arenas, and she could more comfortably engage with them again.

And Rey soon had other reasons to be agitated which had nothing to do with alphas whatsoever — for one day Ahsoka returned bearing a letter of invitation from the queen to come to luncheon in several days hence. And Rey feared it. Despite Ahsoka's repeated assurances that the queen was as amiable and pleasant as any person could be, Rey knew that an unfavorable report of her must have reached the queen's hear by way of her grandson, and how reparations were to be made in such instances were quite beyond her understanding. She dreaded the queen's disapproval.

Still, she had several days to prepare her courage. In the meantime, she only need enjoy her friends and attempt to ignore the Appleknot letters.

**X X X X X X X X**

The other victim of Lady Appleknot's journalistic daggers was not nearly so ambivalent to his attacker as was the young Miss Kenobi.

"She wrote about you again," his valet told him one morning as he dressed, introducing an unwanted feeling of irritation first thing in the morning.

Ben brushed the man off and finished dressing himself. He was not in the mind to hear about a gossipy woman's speculation regarding his romantic attachments, and knowing that her doing so would provoke even further eagerness from the parents of the unmated omegas of the Ton only incensed him further.

He tried to complain of it once, to his mother, warning her that if she were behind these letters, it was a cheater's way to try to undermine the wager between himself and the queen. But his mother put him off in no uncertain terms, claiming that she had nothing at all to do with the Lady Appleknot journal, and that if he wished to accuse of such things again, he would find himself summarily named crown prince without any option of escape.

So Ben stewed in irritation, and tried to avoid all people whenever he could.

He'd never been very good at reining in his temper when it got the better of him. As a youth, he'd pick fights just for the excuse of laying a bloody man out on the street with his fists. He still did that sometimes, truthfully. In his travels, anyway. He couldn't very well do that here, when his reputation was so closely tied to his grandmother's. It was why he'd taken himself away in the first place, fearful of the comparisons they were beginning to draw between himself and his ignominious grandfather.

Ben had very little expenditure for his agitation, therefore. In the evening, he took himself to the alpha club and drank himself to distraction.

Sometimes, Din Djarin Bacca was there. Or Poe Dameron. Both were good sorts with whom Ben had gotten on tolerably well in years past. He sought them out without hesitation. They, at least, did not have schemes of joining any lineages to his own through their omega sisters.

Today, they were also joined by Miss Fazma Storm, the eldest of the two Storm children and one of the exceedingly rare female alphas. Ben regarded her company with some degree of goodwill as well, for she'd never given him any reason to dislike her. At first, they discussed such banal topics as their estate holdings, the farming interests of their tenants, the weather, and the latest in sporting news. But it did not take long before the gossip so traditional to the season came rearing up between them all, and with the gossip, the chief purveyor of it.

"That Appleknot woman seems very keen on stirring up trouble," remarked Poe rather languidly. He cut Din a reproachful look. "She's particularly severe on you, friend. Perhaps justly so."

Din ignored the barb in this observation. "You know as well as I do that there are too many rakes in our association, and my father is adamant that only the best breeding should be allied with a name as old and venerated as hers."

"Do I fall into that camp then? A rake?" Poe demanded.

Ben laughed. "Most definitely, Dameron. Or can you deny it? Always running after those omega artists and singers."

" _That_ is why you can't have a chance at knowing Rey any better," said Din, lifting his glass to his lips.

"I suppose Solo might have a better chance at it," Fazma said, inclining her head in Ben's direction. "Surely royal blood is good enough for the Kenobi line."

"His blood may be, but the man himself is not," said Din.

Poe hooted in derision. "You hear that, Solo? Not even _you_ are good enough for the lovely cousin of this old fool."

But Ben could hardly be offended by this assessment. "I have nothing to say in my own defense. He's not wrong. And anyway, that Appleknot woman can go walk into the river for all I care. She is singularly misguided, encouraging the attentions of anyone to where ever she wilt with a few clever words."

Fazma laughed. "You sound quite resentful."

"Personally offended, are you, that she targets you even more than my cousin?" Din asked, lifting a brow. At this, Poe laughed in delight.

Ben supposed he'd brought this scrutiny onto himself, but he did not enjoy it. "It is not a pleasant experience to have every mother's ambitious eye turned to me at the slightest suggestion of that woman. I am here to endure the season at the behest of my grandmother, but I've no intentions of taking a mate."

"What?" cried Poe, sitting forward in his chair. He looked round at everyone else. At Din, whose brow had lifted further but otherwise made no sign of surprise, and at Fazma, who cocked her head with amused curiosity.

"How can this be?" Poe demanded of Ben. "Are you still not done galavanting all over the world trying to outrun the inevitable? You have a title to consider. A family legacy to protect. Can you really be serious in thinking you will walk through the whole course of your life without a mate?"

"I am." In his more impulsive days, Ben might have reacted with more violence to the censure of his friend, particularly at the mention of his filial duty. At the moment, however, he merely drained another swallow of his drink and set his irritation aside. _Legacy_. As if he wanted any part of his family's shaded legacy.

"Djarin, help me reason with him," rejoined Poe. "He must be mad."

Din looked at him in a peculiarly solemn way. And quietly, he added, "You cannot know what it means to have a mate until you've got one. There is little I can say to convey the depth of that relationship. But it is childishness to think you can live a full and joyful life without one. It will only ever be a half life."

To this, Ben could offer no reply. Din was not only the eldest of all of them by at least a decade, but he was also the only of them to have ever known what it was like to bite and be bitten. To be mated. Only he could say with any real authority what it meant to be so wholly tied to another, body and soul. Ben knew that Din still felt the loss. And it was not in him to cause his friend further pain by pretending to know and disregard that which he had no capacity to understand.

Instead, he took a soft breath and said, "I have my reasons for wishing to be alone. Let us leave it at that. No doubt Dameron and Storm already have their eyes on some eligible candidates. Let us discuss their prospects instead."

"Yes," said Din with a little smile, graciously allowing Ben the escape. "Let's."

**X X X X X X X X**

On that very day whilst Rey entertained her friends, and Ben deflected the curiosity of his associates, there was in the same town another meeting between two interested parties.

That is to say, Queen Padme had once again invited Ashoka to call on her — only Ahsoka, as this was yet several days in advance of the invitation she'd sent to Miss Kenobi. She did so with some special motive today, and asked for her daughter to attend them as well. And so the company of three sat down in a pretty little copse within the palace garden.

"I have heard many curious reports of the evening at the Dameron ball," Padme began conversationally. "I believe I heard that _you_ , my dear, were once again seen in disagreeable altercation with Montgomery Maul."

"Insufferable man," Ashoka seethed, with no effort to conceal her irritation.

Leia laughed. "For two persons so passionately committed to reviling one another, you certainly seem to meet often."

"If this is what I have been invited to discuss," Ashoka cried in protest, "I might as well go home again and associate with the friends of my sister and cousin."

Padme chuckled and held up a hand. "Be at peace, Miss Bacca, for I will not press you on that account any further. But let us turn instead to that very cousin, as it is she I most especially wish to discuss today."

"She was very gratified by your invitation, your majesty."

"I'm glad to hear it. I look forward to getting to know her better. But in the meantime, you can tell me some things."

Ahsoka was fully prepared to satisfy the queen's curiosity with whatever information she could supply. "And what would you like to know of her?"

Padme had not liked what she read in that infernal Appleknot's paper that morning. She didn't like the insinuation that her favor had been mistakenly bestowed, or that the young woman's prospects were fading because of an overbearing guardian. The words written about her own grandson were no more gratifying, insinuating that his checkered past might not yet be altogether expunged. The setting of every Ton mother at his doorstep was also a disagreeable development, as she knew it would only serve to further strengthen Ben's resolve in their wager. He was not an alpha be forced into anything. More careful strategy was required to sway him. She knew this from long experience as his grandmother, and even longer experience as an omega mated to a difficult, ill-tempered alpha.

So a scheme had come into her head. A devilish scheme, perhaps, and Ben might well accuse her of cheating if he discovered it, but she saw opportunity anyway, and she would now present that scheme to her young friend for consideration.

"Does your brother intend to drive away all her suitors the whole season long?"

Ashoka laughed. "I don't think Rey is much of a mind to care if he does."

"Certainly I can understand wishing to preserve her from less advantageous matches. Her family was very dear to me, and her name as respectable as my own — if not more, in some circles. Her grandfather was as cherished for me, and to my husband, as a brother." Padme glanced at Leia. "It would please me to see her marry well. I feel I owe it to her grandfather to see her comfortably and eligibly settled."

"Yes," Ahsoka agreed. "Your history with that family is well known. Your kindness for her does you credit, your majesty."

"Lady Appleknot, it would seem, is making that process more difficult by making public your brother's intractability," said Leia with mild amusement. "Will that inflame the competition to try harder, or will it put them off the notion in favor of easier prospects?"

Padme offered her own insights in a contemplative tone. "Alphas are very competitive creatures. Young Bacca's insistence may only provoke them to scheming of their own. Nevertheless, all lack of callers at the moment indicate that they are willing to abide and wait for an opportunity to bypass him."

"Yes, for now it seems they are prepared to set their attentions elsewhere — or pretend to, anyway," said Ahsoka.

"Let me get to the point," said the queen. "Appleknot has targeted my family too. My grandson's reputation is still in question. He has grown and changed a bit in recent years, and it is time for him to find his mate. And to be quite frank, Miss Bacca, nothing would be please me more than to see the Skywalker and Kenobi households united."

At this, Ahsoka started. She was astonished by the sudden turn. The queen herself wanted to play matchmaker? "Are you proposing a scheme, your highness?"

Padme laughed. "Well, it doesn't have to be as nefarious as you make it sound. Let me just urge you, my young friend, to encourage your father to facilitate their frequent meetings."

"Ben will immediately protest if he learns the motive," Leia cautioned. "So if it is to be done, let it be done under the guise of Chewie's innocent desire to reconnect with his best friend's son. That will lull him into security, and perhaps the whole thing can be accomplished quite without either one becoming aware."

Ahsoka laughed. "But it may be that they are not at all compatible, your majesties. What am I to do in that case?"

The expression then found on the face of the queen could leave no doubt as to her displeasure at the idea. Nevertheless, she inclined her head and generously said, "If that be the case, we will speak no more about it. I will then have to pursue other avenues to secure my grandson a mate before season's end. But until such discoveries are made, promise me that you will try it. That you will get that boy into your household on your father's invitation."

Ahsoka promised to speak to her father, and the ladies then moved on to other topics. She left the queen's luncheon later that afternoon with a head full of curiosity, and that delightful kind of conspiracy that was always aroused by a secret shared with a friend. She had come to know her foster sister tolerably well in the months since her arrival, and Ahsoka felt sure that Rey's interest in alphas was nascent at best, or non-existent at worst. That would make the whole business of matching her with the marquess a bit trickier. But instincts were difficult to deny, as Ahsoka herself well knew, and perhaps a little convenient proximity to one _very_ alpha of alphas would prompt those instincts to rise to the surface.

Ahsoka only knew of the marquess what everyone else knew of him as well. That he'd been a youth of volatile temper, ruled by his designation as his grandfather had been. She knew that he'd gone away, and like the rest of the Ton, wondered what it was that drew him back. From what she'd observed at the Dameron Ball, Solo had matured into a taciturn sort of man, either neutrality or a frown permanently worn on his face.

Rey, by contrast, was lively and quick to smile. She was not given over to very much talking when large groups gathered, or even when the siblings of the household came together. But Ahsoka knew from their more intimate friendship that Rey had a sharp wit, a playful disposition, and an irrepressible independence of spirit created by too much loneliness.

How those two natures would react when thrust together remained to be seen.

**X X X X X X X X**

Chewie agreed to his daughter's suggestion that they extend to the marquess an invitation to dinner. He did not become aware of the reason behind it, and indeed needed no great inducement to extend the invitation himself. He was eager to see the boy whom he'd loved as the son of his first and foremost friend. And that made the invitation as innocent and genuine as it could possibly be. And the marquess, suspecting nothing, accepted.

Rey's surprise, upon sitting down to dine on the arranged evening, was great. She discovered not only that surly royal alpha friend of Din should be at the family table, but also that she should be directed to sit directly next to him.

The marquess only gave her the barest of polite greetings, and then proceeded to ignore her for most of the evening. He spoke primarily to Uncle Chewie, who seemed genuinely eager to know everything the young man had gotten himself into over the last few years. Din too, ignorant to the scheme, participated in this travelogue with great curiosity.

Rey ate mostly in silence. She found herself a little irritated by his determination to ignore most everyone, and a great deal _more_ irritated by how perfectly wonderful his scent was, wafting around her in soothing waves of welcome. It contradicted his personality so completely as to render her quite annoyed. His scent evoked in her all the comfort of a kind touch after too much isolation, or the peaceful tranquility of a cozy hearth fire and a good book whilst a storm raged outside. Even as she tried to dislike him, which truly, she believed she did — even in the attempt, she could feel another part of herself pulled into easy contentment in his presence. She wanted him beside her, and she wanted him very much gone. The contradiction gave her a headache.

"Did you see what she wrote about you today?" Ezra asked their guest.

And Rey startled, because she realized that some turn of conversation had taken them away from Solo's travels and onto that meddlesome Appleknot, who was determined to make Rey the object of every alpha's disdain and fascination in the same breath.

Solo replied that he hadn't — in fact he'd tried to make it a point to avoid the knowledge.

"She's determined to make you a match," Bo laughed. "Or at least to encourage every hopeful parent to attempt it. How should you like to have your pick of any omega you desire?"

"I shouldn't like it at all," replied Solo with a degree more coolness than he'd used while enumerating his escapades.

"How does she know so much, that's what I'd like to know," Kaydel chimed. "She must be one of us. Some member of society."

"Or a working class woman with access to all of us," agreed Bo.

"Wait, wait, we've gotten away from the point," protested Kin, leaning forward to peer over to Solo. "Can you really be serious that you wouldn't like the choice of _any_ omega in the town? That sounds to me like an alpha's dream."

Ezra agreed. Chewie growled at his sons to be civil, that their sisters were present and not to speak crudely. To Solo, he said with a mild chuckle, "Forgive my boys, Ben. I'm afraid I've let them go a little unchecked in their manners while at home."

"I have heard that the manners of all your children are impeccable when out on the town," replied Solo smoothly. "It seems right that they should be allowed to relax a little at home, around their own table. Anyway, it's...very pleasing that you all sit down together. As a family."

Chewie graciously allowed the concession, choosing with very great prudence not to remark on the solitude of the marquess' own upbringing. Instead he said jovially, "You should come more often then. If ever you're craving company, you are welcome at our table."

"Perhaps when we go home to our country state," added Ahsoka with great cheer, "You could come and visit. If you think we're a bit rowdy here, you should see us when there are fewer prying eyes about."

"You mean prying eyes who saw you _again_ talking to Montgomery Maul," Bo teased. "Talking or arguing, I hardly know which because the reports vary so greatly."

And that successfully took half the table's attention away from Solo. Din wanted to know what her fascination with that rake was all about, and the younger children at the end of the table got into a bit of a row over the difference between jam and jelly, and the whole family devolved into pockets of conversation that ran quite away from their original interest in their visitor.

Rey, meanwhile, had still said nothing. She found herself inhaling deeply between bites, softly and surreptitiously, trying to fill her lungs with the feeling of safety and happiness for as long as she could. It heightened the effect to ignore the discourse and merely focus on the _feeling_ coursing through her veins at every draught of scent. A very pleasant feeling indeed. In fact, she fancied she could pass the whole evening away just basking in the scent and shutting out every unpleasant thing, and declare at the end of it that she'd had a perfectly wonderful time.

But Solo wouldn't even let her have that much.

Finally glancing at her, when everyone else was preoccupied with their own things, he said in a low voice, "You are angry, Miss Kenobi."

"Angry?" Her brow furrowed. "Why do you think I am angry?"

"You've not uttered a single word all evening. I wonder that you can mock me for being a charming conversationalist when you yourself seem to be quite as guilty."

Rey didn't understand why he had decided she existed after all. If she'd been silent, it was merely in congruence with his behavior, which was to refuse to acknowledge her presence at the table. His motive behind breaking the unspoken arrangement eluded her.

"I was not aware that you require _every_ person in your vicinity to be wholly attentive to you," she said airily. "My apologies for injuring your vanity."

A single brow lifted. "Perhaps it is not my vanity, but yours, that is wounded, Miss Kenobi."

She scoffed. "What can you mean by that?"

"Only that you are, I suspect, too intelligent to be ignorant to the subtle forces at play here. That you are seated beside me is no accident. And I believe you are offended that there is one member of your prey who is wholly immune to your charms as the favorite of the season. You are, I think, vexed that I am not more attentive to you."

"Prey." She barely resisted rolling her eyes for the sake of not mortifying her foster father with poor manners, but it was a near thing. "You fancy yourself so desirable, then, that I _must_ have set you in my target?"

The corner of his mouth twitched in mild amusement. "Don't pretend that your aim isn't to catch the best alpha specimen you can, little omega."

She'd been trying to convince herself that the strange flicker of _something_ which he'd aroused in her every time he very uncivilly used her designation at the ball was merely a trick of the mind, and not actually anything to think more than one whole second about. But it happened again now, her stomach flipping, a voice inside her stirring, and she reacted with irritation.

"How can any woman wish for anything else?" Sarcasm dripped very impolitely from her words, and not even her good will towards Uncle Chewie could stem the tide of her disdain. "And how can any omega contain herself in the presence of _such_ an alpha as the grandson of a queen, especially one with a reputation such as yours?"

"You've heard of my reputation, then?" The way he put forth the question didn't reveal whether or not this pleased or disappointed him, and she was left to guess. He only arched an eyebrow with faintest indication of interest.

"I know very little about anyone in this town, but I already know quite enough about you," said she. "Everyone talks of the kind of person you were before you went away. My uncle and cousin's friendship with you isn't quite enough to redeem you of those reports, I'm afraid."

His scent shifted. It was a subtle thing, but Rey was already so sensitively attuned to it that she noticed immediately. Instead of his scent being a comforting hearth fire, it took on the feeling of a chill wind seeping through a drafty window. His dark eyes leveled on her, intensity swallowing her up when he quietly and vehemently said:

"You know not the least thing about me, omega. But I know about you. The very little there is worth knowing."

"And what is it you think you know?"

"You're believed to be the long lost heir to a great house, but really, you're just a nobody from nowhere, barely tamed into some manners so that you can be paraded before society and married off quickly. You want the comfortable living an alpha can provide. Chaste, good, sweet Miss Kenobi, the omega everybody is supposed to desire merely because the Queen said some nice things to her. No obvious talents or charms, nothing that anyone can say to your character because no one is actually acquainted with it. You're merely a conquest, to make and to be made. You're not a fully fleshed person at all, perhaps not even in your own understanding of yourself."

Rey's cheeks warmed at this unfair assessment, and she couldn't help the rise in her anger, even as another voice inside her pleaded for her to repair his opinion, to please him, to draw him in. She ignored that voice with disgust.

"It seems, lofty prince, that you know just as much about me as you claim I know about you. Which is to say, nothing at all."

"I am not a prince."

"Nor am I a conquest." She turned back to her plate, face still hot, blood still simmering. "Do not trouble yourself at my silence again, sir. I assure you, I haven't the least bit of interest in knowing you any better."

"Nor I you," he said coldly.

Rey became slowly aware that a couple of the others had listened in on part or all of the exchange, feeling the gaze of Ahsoka more prominently than the others. No doubt she would come to Rey's room that night with a thousand questions on her tongue, and Rey would ask quite frankly why anyone thought it would be a good idea to seat her next to that rude gentleman. If there was such a matchmaking design, as Solo himself seemed to believe, why was _she_ the object of that match? Why not Ahsoka herself, who was admittedly older than Solo but no less eligible. Or even Bo? She at least might have the good breeding to shake off his rough manners with practiced grace.

Chewie shortly thereafter engaged Solo in inquiries about his father, and Rey was spared from having to say anything else for the rest of the evening. He stayed intolerably long, contenting himself with the company of Din, Ezra, and Chewie. When finally he went, Rey retired to her room and collapsed upon her bed in a fit of exhaustion. She was of two minds — her wits, which told her he was contemptibly vain and hopelessly irritating — and her instincts, which traitorously mourned his ill-opinion and wished to bottle up his scent and keep it with her always.

And not for the first time in her life, she found it absolutely loathsome to be an omega.


	4. Chapter 4

_My Dear Reader,_

_Long awaited is the annual gala at Lady Maz Kanata's pavilion. Everybody who counts will be there, including the Princess Organa. And we may expect that her son will also be in attendance — and in the good, if aloof, manners we have thus far seen from him this season. His careful reserve is quite proper, when duly considered. It is reasonable to suppose that the young marquess must be very selective when considering his future mate, for he not only secures the succession of his family in his choice, but he also elevates her standing as well. It is, therefore, expedient that he should choose only the very best of all that the season has to offer, and this author commends his caution and reticence thus far._

_Is it therefore the task of every mother to showcase her daughter as the very picture of omega grace and modesty, of virtue and gentility and every good thing a young woman ought to be. With the reward for success so very high, it is a pursuit most worthy of any family._

_And while the marquess considers which will be his marchioness, another family is hard at work finding — or rather not finding — a happy situation for their newly adopted sister. This season's diamond seems to have fallen rather by the wayside. Rather than rising to the competition, many of the year's eligible bachelors have set their sights on more accessible prospects. It seems that the work of the Bacca men, for indeed even Count Bacca himself has demonstrated surprising disinterest regarding Miss Kenobi's prospective suitors, has paid off. So while the mothers of the omegas chase a royal lineage, and the alphas chase the remaining available omegas, our lovely newcomer — once as promising a prospect as ever there was — has faded out of color._

_Rest assured, dear readers, that any developments at Lady Kanata's will be fully reported in these pages._

_With Love,_

_Lady Appleknot_

**X X X X X X X X**

Bennet Skywalker-Solo had never been more irritated with any person in his entire life. The Appleknot woman was, in his incensed opinion, the most menacing creature ever to exist. He thrust the paper away from himself in a foul temper, the leaflets scattering over the tabletop. His mother looked over from where she had been conversing with the head housekeeper, raising an inquiring brow but receiving no answering attention from her son.

Could his grandmother be the one behind these letters? Surely it had to be someone who knew of his wager, for he'd never experienced such a designed attack on his bachelorhood before. Appleknot was fully marshaling the troops against him. It was a nuisance, to be sure, but not necessarily a danger. He didn't think so, in any case. He was no less resolved to triumph in the wager than he was when he made it.

Though, to be frank, he had discovered an irresistible scent for the first time in his life. This alone had given him a moment's concern, after the astonishment of the discovery. And after the concern — offense and anger, just as the Appleknot periodical had done this morning. He despised fate, or whatever foul supernatural forces had directed her into his life. And though he knew it was unjustly given, he despised her as well. For existing. For coming into his life precisely when he least wished it. For smelling so very lovely and fresh and good as she did, when no omega before her ever had.

No matter. She was nothing to him. And he knew his cruelty at dinner had struck their mark, in the unveiled coldness of her stare. She would keep her distance from him, and he would keep his distance from her. They were strangers in every sense of the word, and it was Ben's chief aim that they would remain so. Despite her curiously bold temper, and the way she had risen to his taunts, and the intelligence in her eyes, or the promise of happiness in her scent.

"Ben," his mother called, interrupting his displeased rumination. She sat down at the table, and the luncheon was laid out. "You are planning on accompanying me to Maz's ball tonight, are you not?"

"I believe you both required me to be at all of these vents in the terms of our wager," he said coolly.

"Yes, that was your grandmother's intention." She was not insulted by her son's cold manners. This was positively cordial compared to the last time he'd lived at home with her. "But I wanted to be sure. There are a few mothers who have called on me to ask if we would be in attendance. I told them we would."

Ben rolled his eyes and used the excuse of a particularly large bite of toast to save him from any immediate reply — which would have been more uncivil than their current tenuous truce allowed. When he'd given himself a moment to reconsider, he said, "I see your delight, mother, in throwing every omega in the Ton at me with the hopes that I will succumb."

"Oh, no, my son, you quite mistake me. I've no delusions of success. After all, how can anyone as fixed as you are possibly come undone by the simple wiles of an omega girl." Her eyes flashed, and Ben saw the mockery in them, the laughter. She was teasing him.

He pursed his lips and denied her the satisfaction of a reply. She could mock him if she wished it, but Ben knew his mind and had spent years wrestling his alpha instincts into submission. He would prevail. Even if she somehow arranged to get him to dinner at the Bacca's, seated next to the most unwanted partner he could have imagined, and even if she subsequently paraded every mother and ever daughter in town before him. Nevertheless, his confidence in his own strength did not make the prospect of such a tiresome season more tolerable, so he reasoned out an escape of his own.

His grandmother only required his attendance at these events, designed to bring alphas and omegas together. She did not require that he mingle and give consequence to every person who solicited his attention. He would accompany his mother to the ball, and then he would slip out of notice of anyone to grant himself a little peace and quiet. He knew that the surest way to avoid any omega entanglement was to stay as far away as possible from them.

**X X X X X X X X**

Maz Kanata's home in town could not be thought of in any other way but as a veritable palace. It did not, of course, have the size to rival the royal seat of Queen Padme, but in every other particular it bore enviable resemblance. Happily situated on its very own peninsula reaching out into the wide, tranquil river, the grounds of the great house boasted picturesque prospects from any corner. In the center of these grounds stood what was known as the pavilion. It was a lovely large structure of white columns and deco design, and it was beneath that very pavilion that many of society's matches would be made.

For Maz Kanata loved nothing in the world more dearly than making matches. Or at least, facilitating the proper atmosphere to encourage the making of matches.

Everyone who traveled to that lovely home went with that express desire foremost in their minds. And indeed when the guests had arrived and the dancing got underway, it seemed that everything was quite well in hand.

The Bacca clan arrived by ferry, and quickly dispersed to their various social circles. Chewie went to find Maz straightaway, which all the children seemed to think significant, but which did not strike Rey as at all peculiar. It was right and proper that he should pay his respects to their obliging host.

Ahsoka and Bo presently excused themselves to find their friends, and eventually Ezra too went to ask various omegas to dance. Din hovered near enough to Rey to discourage the early opportunists, but eventually and blessedly wandered off when he saw his abominable friend, the young Lord Solo, arrive on the arm of his mother. That left Rey free to seek out her new companions.

But she discovered, to her amazement, that they were rather more happily engaged. Finn Storm had once again asked Rose to dance, and they were currently on their second turn about the floor. Meanwhile Poe had asked Jessika Pava, and that pasty pale ginger Armitage Hux had asked young Millicent. Rey found herself momentarily bereft of all her new acquaintances, until Paige found and rescued her from solitude. They passed a very pleasant half hour together, laughing and talking and observing the various couples.

It seemed, however, that Rey's novelty hadn't _quite_ worn off, as a few alphas glanced her way and made signs as if they were to soon draw near. Rey decided that just for tonight, she wouldn't mind it if they did. She would like to find someone else who smelled better than the marquess and behaved in a much more agreeable manner. She was curious to hunt for this enigmatic alpha, whomever he was, amongst the available options. At the very least, having a mate couldn't be _disagreeable_ , and though she still didn't find herself wholly convinced of the prospect yet, she could acknowledge that any reprieve from that irksome Lady Appleknot's attention would be welcome reward enough for settling down. Besides, the evening would be much more fun, Paige assured her, if she managed to get in a few dances.

But Din and Uncle Chewie had made their positions very clear, and though a couple of the alphas looked as if they wished to approach her, in the end, no one did.

Well, not _quite_ no one.

To Rey's unmatched irritation, Snoke, that repulsive old alpha from the Dameron ball, sought her out just as an alpha solicitor snatched Paige away for the next dance. Unusually disappointed in her own failure to secure even one invitation, Rey was too lost in self-contemplation to see his approach, and only noticed his arrival when a blast of hot, putrid scent met her just before he said:

"Miss Kenobi, how wonderful you look this evening. I am sure you will look just as beautiful when we are wed."

That certainly gave her a start, and she turned to him in unveiled astonishment. "Upon my word, you presume too much, sir, for neither I nor my uncle have heard or accepted any offer of marriage from you."

A terrible smile spread over his gruesome face, and he gave an apologetic bow. "If I have shocked your delicate omega sensibilities, forgive me. Only, I know you must be experiencing the same physical reactions to our proximity that I myself experience. You must feel how we are destined for each other, as I do."

Rey didn't give any heed to protocols of politeness, and turned abruptly on her heel, and left him. No inducement in the world could keep her there to hear such absurdities from anyone, least of all someone so repulsive as to set her soul aflame with terrible warning. He did not deserve even another moment's wayward thought, and so she put him out of her mind immediately. Wending her way through the crowd, she found a company of people gathering under together to hear Lady Kanata. Rey discovered, with amusement, that Uncle Chewie stood right beside the tiny woman. Maz announced some grand surprise, followed by a small sparking, hissing noise, and the whole pavilion and its immediately surrounding garden illuminated in strings of small lanterns.

Enchantingly beautiful.

Rey smiled a little to herself. She turned in the attempt to locate her friends, and saw Rose, with her alpha suitor, gazing up at the lights in unveiled wonder. Trying to see if Millicent had escaped her interested alpha, Rey quite unintentionally let her gaze fall upon that horrible Snoke again, who watched her with predatory intensity through the throng. A thrill of revulsion and fear shuddered down her spine and she found it immediately prudent to escape. This was as much an imperative of her rioting omega instincts as it was sound logic of the mind.

So she went. She fled by way of a small stone wall and garden gate separating the darker paths of Lady Kanata's grounds from the charmingly illuminated party.

Vexation made her footsteps quick, confusion made her huff sharp, exasperated breaths of air. Her vexation over the persistence of Snoke soon expanded to encompass the entirety of her experience in town thus far. Making friends had been pleasant enough, but everything else held her in a state of constant discomfort at every moment. These parties, these dinners with alpha guests, these gossiping neighbors and inflammatory articles — what about this season was she supposed to enjoy? Rey didn't understand why she found herself here at all. She'd done just fine at her grandfather's empty estate. To be sure, the relentless loneliness of it all had steadily chipped away at her naturally good disposition, reducing her to a sad husk of a person awaiting the return of those who would never come. But she hadn't been troubled by such complicated persons as _alphas_ there, at least. Especially not such determined, ill-bred alphas as which now pursued her.

Even in Uncle Chewie's country estate, life was a great deal more agreeable than this. His gaggle of children were undoubtedly exhausting, but also a lively source of merriment and companionship when she wanted them. Together with her foster sisters, Rey had scampered about the countryside in all manner of simple gaiety. They'd attended and hosted simple country dances, and the minor flirtations with tradesmen's alpha sons produced no irritable stirring of spirit.

But here, her happy complacency had been ruined. By the queen's favor. By that horrible Lady Appleknot woman. The gossip of the ton had thrust enormous pressure onto Rey's shoulders, pressure of a kind she wasn't used to bearing. Now the expectation to find a mate could not be evaded, and when potentially interesting matches held back, the vile one stepped forward. Rey wanted no part of it, except that everyone talking about how wonderful a thing it was to have an alpha had introduced into her mind a great deal of doubt regarding that position.

These were the seething ruminations of an unsettled mind when Snoke found her again.

Alone.

"I got your signal, my dear," said he, emerging from the shadows. "I have come."

The noises of the party came but diffusely through the hedgerows, emphasizing with no uncertainty just how alone they found themselves. In Rey's chest, her heart skipped once. But for his benefit, she crossed her arms and fashioned an easy scowl.

"I did not signal you, sir, and I assure you, your company is the last thing I desire."

He laughed. "You take great delight in toying with me, I see. But your scent does not lie. You await my attentions with eager anticipation. When we are mated—"

"No," cried she, interrupting him. "I have no wish to mate or marry at this time, and you may be absolutely certain, sir, that when I am more inclined to it, I will _never_ marry or mate you."

Perhaps there was some force in the words hitherto fore not used, because his countenance changed from amusement to irritation. "We will have to correct your manners immediately. I understand that you were allowed to grow up quite without them, but that will not do in my household."

He drew nearer, and though Rey's every instinct told her to flee, she found herself rooted to the spot with outrage and a growing heat of violence in her middle. "You mistake yourself, foolish man. You have no claim to influence over myself or my manners, and you do not recommend yourself to my civility by pretending otherwise."

A pale, skeletal hand lifted to her throat, fingertips tugging on the end of the courting ribbon until it fell away, and Rey felt the coolness of the breeze skating over her exposed glands.

Snoke tipped his head back in a great inhalation of air, his smile returning. "Exquisite, your scent. You will feel differently about my place in your life after I've—"

The moment his eyes landed on her neck, Rey could be still no more. She lashed out, a clenched fist colliding with his marred face with a satisfying crunch. At the same moment wherein Snoke reeled backwards with a cry of agony, he fell directly into the path of none other than _Lord Solo_ , who seemed to come from one of the darker lanes of the garden quite out of no where.

Solo wasted not a moment in seizing the man, now bleeding profusely from a broken nose, and lifting him entirely off his feet.

"I saw what you did, wretch. You will leave Miss Kenobi alone," he said most furiously, and then threw the man violently aside so that he cried out upon impact with the ground.

Striding forward, Solo picked up the courting ribbon and wrapped his hand around Rey's forearm, guiding her away from the spot hastily. And Rey was far too surprised to protest, both at his appearance, and his touch. Additionally, it seemed to her like a wise idea to get away from the injured man as quickly as possible, rendering any attempt of her own to get out of the grasp unnecessary.

When they had gone a safe distance from him, Solo stopped and let go of her. He took a step back and smoothed his clothes, adjusted his sleeves as if trying to compose himself. He looked very well this evening, Rey was embarrassed to realize. Exceedingly well. Handsome, even. She did not enjoy conceding this observation, even in the privacy of her own head.

"I apologize," he said in a low voice. "For grabbing you. And for what that man was trying to do to you."

"Are you his keeper, that his sins are yours?" She touched her arm where his hand had been, surprised at the warmth he'd left there. "And anyway, sir, you needn't have worried. I can quite take care of myself."

"So I saw." He seemed, for a moment, briefly amused. But his expression became once again very grave. "But do you know what might have happened had he used a command on you?"

"A command?"

"An alpha command."

Rey regarded at him with uncertainty.

And Solo at once comprehended her confusion. His astonishment was plainly evident. "Is it possible you have never experienced an alpha command? Or even heard of such a thing?"

His surprise bordered on incredulity, and Rey bristled at the implications that she was altogether too innocent for a girl her age. Frowning, she said with some shortness, "I had the happy experience of knowing very few alphas until I arrived in my uncle's household."

"He isn't your uncle."

"I know he isn't. But he's the nearest thing to it. And upon my word, sir, is this the turn you wish to discuss? My familial relations? You are easily led into wayward paths by the smallest of remarks."

The corner of his mouth twitched again in that way it often did when they exchanged words like this. She wondered what it meant. Could it be a smile, or could it be contempt? "Forgive me. I am indeed glad to hear that the few alphas around you were better behaved than to issue imperatives you are forced to obey."

"Forced," she scoffed. "No creature under God can _force_ me to do anything against my will."

"An alpha command can compel you to do anything," he said, very seriously. His brow creased in concern.

Again, Rey had to laugh. He did not know anything at all about her if he thought he or anyone else could overrule her will and impose their own. But then, his harsh words at dinner had already proved how little he knew her. He'd fashioned quite a mistaken view of her from their first unfortunate meeting. It amused her to think how he must have painted her in his head, and perhaps to his grandmother as well.

Solo looked momentarily quite irritated, as if her levity was something of an insult. Or perhaps it came from that very grave concern still shadowing his pale brow. He glanced around as if to check for eavesdroppers, and then took several steps backwards away from her. A retreat? Had she again so offended his pride?

But then he dipped his chin in brief deliberation, and said solemnly, "Forgive me. It's important that you understand. I trust you will not judge me too harshly."

"For what?" she demanded.

He drew a deep breath and said, "Omega, _**come here.**_ "

The words lanced right through the heart of Rey like the voice of her own soul. She gasped, recognizing the order as originating outside of her, but feeling the importance of it as if it were her own. She tried to resist it, briefly, this overwhelming urge to go to him, but her whole spirit revolted against that resistance. She _must_ obey. Nothing in her life had ever felt so certain as that, had ever felt more urgent than heeding his words. She stepped forward once, and then again, astonished and outraged at herself, and shocked at the strength of her delight and relief in being able to please him.

 _Alpha,_ that voice deep within her rejoiced. _Obey, and a_ _lpha will keep us. Alpha will care for us. We must please alpha._

And quite without counting her steps, Rey found herself standing right in front of him, far too close for social respectability. His hooded gaze fell upon her, his breath as unsteady as her own, for he seemed no less affected by the compliance than she was. His hand lifted, hesitated, and for just a moment she thought perhaps he meant to touch her. Instead, the cool silky slip of the courting ribbon met the warm skin of her gland.

Rey shuddered as his knuckles rasped against her gently in his quick work of tying a neat little bow once more. His lips, so very near, tilted in the smallest intimation of a smile.

"Very good, omega," he said softly, and the praise shot through Rey's whole body with the strangest power, drawing spirals of soft pleasure from her head to her toes.

"I…" she tried to say, but immediately failed in the attempt, for his scent wafted around her in that soothing way it had at dinner, and her mind was so pacified into peaceful stillness, she quite lost the power of speech. Nothing in the whole course of her life had ever smelled quite so natural and also divine as he did.

His hand lingered on her throat a little longer than it ought. But the spell broke when he remembered himself, and pulled it away, taking a proper step backwards and humming a little apologetic note.

"You see the danger now, I hope," he said a bit stiffly, his gaze fixating on something off to the side so as not to meet hers any longer. "He could have commanded you to do anything, and you'd have done it."

"What a loathsome prospect," she said with vehemence, recovering her wits quickly enough. "And what a vile trick of nature, to give alphas so much power."

"Quite," agreed Solo.

A sort of awkward silence passed between them. Rey glanced over her shoulder at the lights of the party winking through the trees and bushes. Would Snoke have exacted his vengeance for her strike by issuing her an order she was compelled to obey? What might have happened if Solo hadn't chanced upon them?

"My lord, I —" she hesitated. Despite the moment which just transpired, it made her flesh crawl to think of _thanking_ him. Especially after the cruel things he'd said to her at dinner. She did not like him, she had to remind herself, but this factor seemed hardly relevant now, after his chivalrous assistance. Her gratitude must be expressed, if only out of obligation alone. "I thank you for your intervention. It's clear that there are aspects to...to these things...which I, in my happy ignorance, must learn."

"Yes, you must learn them." His expression clouded. "For your own safety."

There was just the faintest touch of condescension in his tone, but it was enough to prickle Rey's defenses again, inducing her to redirect the focus of the conversation onto him. "By the by, Lord Solo, what were you doing out here? How did you come upon us?"

She did not expect his candor. With a weary look, he confessed, "I had to avoid certain people."

"People?"

"Mothers. They are people, I suppose."

"Your mother?"

He seemed briefly amused, the expression preceding a shake of the head. "No. Not mine. She isn't allowed to interfere — it would ruin the sport."

"The sport. What can that mean? The sport of finding your omega bride?"

His grimace was unmistakable. "Something like that, though I assure you, Miss Kenobi, I have no such intentions. I do not mean to marry."

Rey found his honesty rather refreshing, after their previous two encounters. She wondered at the change, but did not protest it. "Do you not have a duty to your family line, sir?"

"I do."

"It is not enough for you."

"It is not." He grew tired of the attention, apparently, because in a swift change of conversation he said with great curiosity, "Why were you out here alone with that fool, Miss Kenobi?"

"I didn't mean to be," she protested. "He followed me when I meant to retire for some space to myself."

"Did anyone see? Your reputation is compromised here."

"I cannot possibly know if anyone saw. _I_ did not see myself. Why are you so concerned with my reputation, anyway? It's not as if it could suffer much more harm than what Appleknot has already reported. Nobody will get near, in fear of my uncle and cousin. A little scandal won't drive them further away."

This too seemed to amuse him. "You're quite wrong. It can, and will, if you are discovered. You do not know how low and petty these people can be. Even the mere suggestion of you being out here with an alpha, me or him, is enough to make you the object of disdain for the rest of your days. And it could cast a shadow on the whole of Chewie's family."

That made her blink. She knew what he said was very serious, but her thoughts caught on one little particular. "You call him Chewie too?"

Solo regarded her, his gaze steady and studious. "He is as much an uncle to me as he is to you."

"I see." She thought with brief entertainment on the prospect of Chewie being close to both of them throughout their childhoods, though they lived worlds apart. Chewie was a very good and loyal associate to his friends, that could not be denied. But she could not think on it long. The picture Solo painted of her reputation was very grim. She sighed. "What will Appleknot write of this night? That the season's diamond was lost in the weeds with the least suitable suitor in the whole country?"

"I assure you, I have as much contempt for that author as you have cause to harbor." Solo's tone grew very cold at that, and he began to pace about the little path restlessly. Rey saw that the topic ignited a great deal of agitation in him. It reminded her of how restless and hostile he'd been during their last two encounters.

"I've read what she's written about you," she offered. "She's all but issued a challenge to every mother of every omega to—"

"Claim me as a prize," Solo said with displeased relish. "You see, Miss Kenobi. To them, I am also but a conquest. Not a person, but a title, a lineage, and a legacy to claim."

This concession surprised her. She remembered his unjust assessment of her from before. She was not a person, but an ideal and a conquest. And he was not a person, but a legacy and also a conquest. Perhaps his perception of her character was firmly rooted in the perception he had of himself, and she did not know exactly what to make of it. They were, the pair of them, quite the non-people to have garnered so much attention from a meddlesome gossip writer. And she might have pointed that out, had he not stopped short in his step and looked up with some glimmer of interest in his expression.

"What is it?" she asked, her instincts guiding her to be instantly wary.

"You and I are the same," replied he.

Ah. Had he also been thinking the same thing as she had, just now? Recalling how he stripped away her personhood the last time they spoke, and doing the same to himself?

Still, she frowned and said definitively, "We are not the same."

"No, I meant — we are in the same predicament, you and I. And perhaps there is a way out."

"A way out?"

"A solution." He seemed quite animated now, his features alight with more liveliness than she'd ever seen in his sullen manners thus far. It quite startled her, and she found herself falling a step backwards when he came forward suddenly. "You and I could pretend to form an attachment."

"A what?" Rey gasped, scarcely trusting she'd heard him right. _This_ man, who had been so previously rude and cold in all his behaviors towards her, wanted to form an alliance, a conspiracy, of _attachment?_

"Consider." He ran a hand through his thick dark hair, mussing it in a regrettable, but attractive way. Rey watched that hand skate through those black locks rather distractedly. His eyes were on her, vivid and certain. "With you on my arm, the world will finally believe I've found my mate, and all those ambitious mothers will finally leave me alone. And every alpha in the town will feel the threat of competition, and will eagerly await the opportunity to steal you from me. You'll have your pick of any of them, as soon as you feel ready to choose one. Snoke will leave you alone. He's afraid of my family."

She could not help but laugh with incredulity. "You want to form with ruse with _me_ , my lord? I remind you that we are not friends, and you have made it very clear how much you despise me."

He couldn't deny it. "I was determined to keep you as far away from me as possible, Miss Kenobi, as it seemed inevitable that those forces conspiring to make a married man of me would put forth you as the chief candidate. But as you have made your own opinions of my person very clear, I can think of no safer ruse than to let them believe they have gotten what they wanted."

Rey did not entirely follow his logic there, but she could see how convinced he was of it. She raised a brow. "And — and Lady Appleknot?"

"Appleknot will have no choice but to see us for what we truly are. Me, unavailable, and you, once again desirable." He'd drawn in close — not quite as near as before, when he'd commanded her to him, but almost.

Rey felt herself quite trapped in that stare of his, head spinning at the lunacy of it all, nonetheless lulled into compliance by the inundation of that peculiar comfort his scent brought. Doubting the sanity of it all, she nonetheless nodded and issued her soft, bewildered consent.

He was offering to buy her time. To think about what she wanted without Snoke or any other alpha breathing down her neck, to decide who she liked and what her life would look like when she chose, to learn these subtle nuances in the relationship between alpha and omega which she must very expediently learn. It was an offer she dare not refuse. Here was safe harbor from which she could make her plans and seize charge of her own life. So long as she tied her ship to his port, everything would be alright.

Solo held out his hand, a peculiar expression on his face. "Shall we, then, my lady?"

Rey looked at that very hand, swallowing once, and placed her own into his.

**X X X X X X X X**

Every eye turned upon the couple with palpable curiosity as they walked hand-in-hand through the crowds, the two of them having found some surreptitious entrance into the central ring of the garden so as not to be observed coming from shadowy isolation. Alpha and omega alike regarded them, whispers scattered through their ranks like dry leaves over a winter terrain. The miasma of scent took on a highly charged, highly interested note as more and more of them observed the grandson of the queen escort the young, elusive newcomer towards the pavilion.

Rey's heart beat a quick rapport against her chest, color warm in her cheeks, chin high as she pretended not to notice how much attention their togetherness elicited. That _was_ the design, after all. It helped to have his hand warming hers through the soft silk of her glove, and to have his scent so near, so gently persuasive that all would be well. The warmth of a blanket set beside the fire, and then draped over chilled shoulders.

She saw the faces of her foster siblings in the crowd, astonishment, or eagerness, or delight crowding over their features. Ahsoka looked especially pleased. Rey blushed further still to think of the questions she would have to dodge that night when the sisters came, hungry for explanation.

Under the glimmering lantern lights of the pavilion, Solo turned to her, and drawing a hand about her waist, said softly and gently, "Here, omega. To me."

Her nervous attention fixated immediately on him, compelled by no command except that of her own wishes. His dark eyes, previously so proud and cold, welcomed her with unmistakable warmth and amusement. She could not help the smile that ventured cautiously over her face.

"A little closer," he urged, the hand on her waist tightening, drawing her in another step. His eyes briefly dipped to her lips, and then down further to where she knew her scent glands to be, safely covered by the ribbon he had so carefully restored. And then he was back again, looking into her eyes as if it were the most natural thing in the world. As if they had not thought each other intolerable in every other encounter before this.

"If our plan is to work," he murmured as the music began, "We must appear to be madly in love."

Rey exhaled a trembling breath. "This is lunacy."

"I think it's brilliant." He smiled — a full, real smile this time, and the effect of it quite stunned her into speechlessness. "And anyway, what have we got to lose?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so happy you're all enjoying our poor silly idiots 🤧

_Most Beloved Reader,_

_There will always be two words which come to mind after a well-thrown, well-attended ball. "Shock" and "delight." For those not in attendance at Lady Kanata's Pavilion last night, you missed the most remarkable coup of the season. It appears that the lovely Miss Kenobi, heretofore barricaded from the interest of any alpha this season by her guardians and benefactors, has managed to evade their impediments and capture the interest of the most elusive alpha of all — Lord Bennet Skywalker-Solo, Marquess of Organa. The couple were seen dancing not once, not twice, but **three** numbers throughout the course of the evening, and no one who witnessed these encounters can doubt their high regard for one another. Just when the young lady managed to secure his attentions is yet unknown, as the two have not been seen moving in the same social circles thus far through the season._

_Can Lord Bacca and his son have been holding out for the biggest prize all this time? Was this their design in denying all other alphas access to the eligible Kenobi heir all this time? Undoubtedly, the interest of the most desirable bachelor of the season will ignite the rival passions of others, and we may be confident that the secret schemes of the Bacca men, if there be any, will soon manifest more plainly. Another point of great interest to consider is whether the queen will be pleased by this prospect. We already know she approves of the young woman in a general sense, but is she good enough for the royal lineage? In the absence of an heir by Prince Luke, our sights turn to Miss Kenobi. Can the couple secure the future of our kingdom? And once again, the most intriguing question of all, just how did Miss Kenobi capture the attentions of one so very skittish alpha?_

_Rest assured, dear reader, that discovering and reporting every answer to even the smallest of details will be my utmost priority._

_With love,_

_Lady Appleknot_

**X X X X X X X X**

The valet woke him long before Ben was ready to be woken.

He lay sprawled in the dark gloom of his quarters, curtains drawn tightly shut over those windows which might have indicated the late hour of the morning. But the man came in and drew them open, allowing those radiant golden beams to slice easily through the chamber and molest the closed eyes of the late sleeper.

Ben groaned and buried his face in his pillow.

In his travels abroad, he'd been known as quite the early riser. The world held many excitements and enticements — many reasons to greet the day with fresh curiosity and a clear head. But at home, when he knew only his mother and the rest of this infernal society awaited him, he allowed himself to grow slothful and reluctant. He kept late hours at night, associating with old friends in the less reputable parts of town where nobody held him to some impossible standard, and he kept to his bed until late in the day.

This would not be allowed today, apparently.

"Her Ladyship has asked to see you," said the valet. The noises he produced as he moved about left no room for doubt as to his intentions. He was making ready to help Ben dress for the day.

"Tell her to get stuffed," Ben said irritably. He hadn't gone out prowling for a fight last night after Kanata's dance, but his had ached a little just as if he had.

The valet issued a soft, conspicuous cough, and Ben knew he'd offended the polite sensibilities of the man. The language he'd picked up in his travels was certainly not the language he'd been taught to use, and it would not be the language he could use at all if his grandmother prevailed and captured him with her crown. Contemptible prospect. He huffed again and rolled over onto his back, squinting into the offensive brightness of the sunlight.

"What does my mother want?"

"She did not say, Sir," said the valet. "Only that I was to fetch you and get you dressed for going out."

"I will dress later." Ben forced himself out of bed, scrubbing at his eyes, running his hands through his hair. "Leave me. Tell her I'll be down in a moment."

The servant bowed and obeyed. When he'd gone, Ben went to the wash basin to splash water over his face. He pulled on a loose shirt, not bothering to tie the collar, and noting with some curiosity the slightly elevated color of his gland at the base of his throat. His period of unchecked aggression, known in baser circles as _rut_ , was not due for quite some time. There was no explanation for the piqued color immediately apparent, so he decided it was probably something to do with all his emotional agitation since returning home.

If his mother wanted him to start the day properly and be prepared to receive visitors or make social calls himself, she'd be disappointed. He wasn't going anywhere that would require fine clothes this morning.

When he'd more or less mussed his hair back into an acceptable shape, he went downstairs to see what all the fuss was about. He found his mother seated at the breakfast table, half an egg in the delicate cup before her, eyes scanning the latest Appleknot periodical. Ben did not attempt to conceal his displeasure at the sight of it.

"You're becoming quite lazy, Bennet," she said coolly as he selected a seat at the table.

"I don't have much to induce me to wake early these days."

"Your father will be returning soon."

"Will he?" Ben searched himself, and found he couldn't muster much enthusiasm for the prospect. "That will not change my sleeping habits, I'm afraid."

Finally her eyes lifted from the page and met his, and though she was an omega, Ben felt all power of all the alphas in that stare. It was the way she'd always looked at him — with authority, with command, with a little love, but also a great deal of disappointment. And just as it always happened when she used that look, Ben submitted to her power and lowered his sullen gaze to the plate before him, chastened without so much as a word of reproach.

"You may have reason to rise in the morning and make yourself presentable, son," said she after a moment. "Or was I mistaken in what I saw last night?"

Ben took the opportunity for distraction, assembling for himself an assortment of foods from among the choices laid out on the table. He said nothing. She was, of course, referring to the business with Miss Kenobi and their planned charade. A mad business, perhaps. He could acknowledge it now, in the light of day, without the siren call of her influence clouding his judgement.

"I have heard that she already has many callers today. Many alphas have gone to try to woo her away from you."

Ben shrugged his shoulders, taking a heaping bite of sausage. "That was expected," he said. "You know as well as I do how alphas love competition."

"But do you not feel the threat of it? Should you not be over there now, among them? Fighting for her favor?"

Ben laughed. The sound was harsh, maybe a little mocking. He had just enough vanity to confidently say, "Mother, I do not need to compete with any of those fools. Nor will I. If she cannot see that I am superior to them in every way, then there's no use, and I do not want her."

"Bennet!" His mother looked quite shocked. "I did not teach you such rude arrogance as that. Miss Kenobi is sweet and lovely, and you would be lucky to find such a girl."

"She isn't as sweet as you might think," he remarked, thinking with some amusement of how thoroughly she'd knocked the stuffing out of Snoke — and also of all her little barbed remarks over the short course of their acquaintance. The image they all fashioned for her, of this docile, demur little creature of excellent breeding and gentle manners — it was all outrageously false. She had bite in her. She had hunger. And they didn't know her at all.

It gave Ben some sordid satisfaction that he should know the truth, and keep it to himself.

"Yet for as much as I expected you to fail your end of the wager, I imagined you would hold out a little while longer," his mother continued. "You're quite in danger already, after only two weeks. Where is this resolute resistance you've been so loud about?"

That pricked at his pride, but Ben refused to give way to it. He calmly replied, "Am I in danger, mother? I confess I do not feel it. I do not perceive in any way that I am failing the challenge. Can I not dance with an omega without inciting you or grandmother to start planning a wedding?"

" _Three_ dances, Ben," she said with emphasis. "Three. That is no accident or trifling whim. You did not favor anyone with an invitation at the Dameron ball, you've made no social calls during the week, and Miss Kenobi is the only one you asked the whole course of the evening last night. What are we meant to think?"

"Think what you want," he said, entertained by how easily she took the bait. "But as you said, we are still in the beginning of the season. Much may change. Miss Kenobi now has many suitors. Who can tell what the future holds?"

"Who can tell indeed," said Leia with private amusement.

She did not broach the subject again, and presently finished her own breakfast. She went off to do whatever it is she intended to do for the day, leaving Ben to his plate in solitude.

Mad as it may be, it pleased him, the cleverness of his agreement with Miss Kenobi. He'd determined to keep away from her yesterday morning, perceiving it as the safest course for himself. But her scent last night lured him into reconsidering his position, and now that he'd made his lunatic bargain, he found himself quite satisfied. His mother and grandmother would grow increasingly hopeful, and less meddlesome as they held their breaths and waited for the fulfillment of their dreams. They'd leave him alone for the season. And then, when it ended, he would be free to leave again and continue chasing a more satisfying existence somewhere else in the world.

Perhaps this ruse could be construed as cheating, after a manner. But Ben wasn't above such tactics. He'd happily cheat if it meant he could be free of his irksome family once and for all.

And anyway, it wasn't a bad way to cheat the wager. She was undoubtedly a prickly creature, to be sure, that Miss Kenobi — but an interesting one, too. He hadn't seen it at first. At the Dameron ball, he saw only another omega trying to feign her way into an introduction. But now that he'd seen with his own eyes the pursuit of that loathsome Snoke, he didn't think she'd been lying about her original reason for soliciting his conversation. And the way she'd met him, blow for rhetorical blow, over the Bacca family dinner...that too altered his perception of her.

Yes, she was _interesting_. And that was enough to please him in their little ruse. He could feel that some primal warning lurked beneath the surface, in the wiles of her scent, but he knew his own strength and knew that to get himself used to her would be to render her scent impotent, as it ought to be. So long as he didn't issue any more commands and watch her obey them...so long as he didn't have to put his skin close to her glands again, as he'd done when he helped her tie her courting ribbon...

Those were the only moments wherein he felt a very _real_ sense of danger creeping along his skin, seeping into his blood, stirring his instincts.

Her scent was distractingly good too. When she was near, it reminded him of the kind of pure, unbridled joy of childhood. Of running through sunny gardens and laughing wildly until all the strength drained out of him and he could only fall on the ground in helpless peals. Of delight and wonder and every good thing he had not truly felt since abominable adolescence destroyed the simple happiness of his existence. Light and levity swelled into existence at ever breath of her essence.

When Miss Kenobi was near, he felt that lost, innocent joy was possible again. Her scent provoked his mind to yearn for it again, and his heart to feel the echo of pleasures long gone.

Upon this careful reflection, he decided that perhaps there was indeed more danger here than he initially assessed. He would have to be vigilant. Nothing in the world mattered so much as his goal.

Restless now, Ben determined what must be done this morning. He instructed the servants to send a message to his old friend Tai, and then summoned his valet to help him dress for the day. A hot, roiling sensation had begun to burn in his belly during his quiet rumination — familiar and unwanted. His alpha instincts were surging again, and Ben was far better acquainted with their side-effects than he wished to be.

 _Too violent,_ they'd said of him in his adolescence, when the slightest provocation would set him in a rage. _Like his grandfather. Such a shame._

The ignominy of the Prince Consort, Anakin, followed Ben around like a plague, reminding him how ill-suited he was to the roles his family was required to take in society. Reminding him how he was better fit for a life outside the public eye, as his grandfather should have been. How could one queen be so beloved, and her husband so reviled?

But Ben had been working out his alpha-ness over the last few years, learning how to control the beast, finding less destructive means of expressing his irrepressible urges. His alpha yearned for something he could not name, and would rage and burn the whole world to get what it wanted. Ben could not fathom why the old feelings were determined to resurface now, after a long period of tolerable containment, but he knew what must be done to put them to bed again.

Word came back from Tai: an assent. And with that word given, he rode off in quest of emotional containment. His ride took him to a boxing house in the middle quarter, enjoyed by betas and the occasional alpha looking to fight. There, Ben located his friend.

Tai was a middle class beta, son of respectable tradesmen, with all the strength and size of an alpha. He owned the boxing house, and facilitated matches there. He'd been the companion of Ben's youth, though unknown to his parents. They met as children in secret. Ben found it agreeable to have a friend he wasn't supposed to know, simply by their unequal privilege. Tai could show the restless youth around his less-restricted world, and provide opportunities for Ben to misbehave. They found plenty of trouble, and Ben had long valued their acquaintance as something entirely his own, disregarding any precepts of approval from his relations.

"I'm surprised to see you back, old friend," said Tai with a congenial clap on Ben's shoulder. "I didn't think you'd ever come this way again."

"I didn't intend to do so," said Ben. His morning left him feeling increasingly agitated, and he did not look forward to the necessary small talk. "But I was drawn in."

"And the vexations of your family have brought you to me," Tai said with amusement. "Again."

It couldn't be denied. "Yes. Though I'm not certain it was a charitable decision on my end. I don't wish to injure you after so long an absence."

Tai laughed. "You had no scruples about thrashing me when we were young. But don't worry, Ben, I assure you, you cannot hurt me now."

Holding on to doubts about this assessment, Ben nevertheless let Tai lead him to the sweat room where they disrobed down to shorts, and then went out and climbed into the ring. This was not a civilized pastime, and Ben's mother would be horrified to learn he engaged in it at all, but Ben knew of no better treatment for his raging instincts. Perhaps if her own father had found a similarly harmless outlet for his anger, many people ills might have been prevented.

The curious thing about Ben's vexations today, however, was that they were not chiefly rooted in anger at all. His humors were _always_ rooted in anger. He could express his frustrations through his fists, and thereby release them. But today his agitation did not carry any fury. He simply felt that too-muchness of alpha instincts burning through him with sickly flames, and he knew that if he did not release them, they would manifest destructively. Hopefully the method of release would be the same. His alpha was hungry for something other than blood today, and perhaps that would save Tai from becoming a meaty pulp on the floor.

Except, as Ben soon realized after a couple of exchanged blows, his friend had much, _much_ improved over the last many years. Tai was strong. Too strong for a beta, really, but it worked to his advantage as he took on this very _alpha_ alpha. Ben could not land a blow without receiving one in return, and many more in payment. He danced here and there, but Tai always met him. He struck, and Tai struck back.

He exerted himself to the full force of his capability, muscles burning, breath exhausting out of him, eager to feel the draining of his energy little by little.

His head rang with Tai's assault, and sweat collected on his brow, down his back, slicking his body and wicking away the illness of sensations and emotions unwanted. It felt good to exert himself this way, even if he was taking as much punishment as he himself could manage to give.

Once, reeling back, vision temporarily impeded by the little pinpricks of light which erupted after that last blow, Ben's mind whirled sharply into focus at the introduction of a familiar scent. An alpha scent — mated, but slowly, sadly, fading.

Din Djarin Bacca.

With an expeditious shake of his head, Ben held up his hand to signal respite to Tai, who chuckled, panted, and backed slowly away. If this particular visitor had come, it could not be for Tai's sake. He left them to their impending conversation.

"Solo," Din said in the coldest of manners, approaching the edge of the ring.

"How did you know where to find me?" Ben shook his head again, trying in vain to clear the ringing sensation in his ears. His nose itched at the hostility laced through Din's scent. He'd never received so much ill-will from this particular friend before.

"I asked your man. He told me."

"Ah." Yes, Ben's personal valet would know where he'd run off to. He always did know.

"Might I have a word?" asked Din, and still that coldness persisted in his manner of asking.

Ben leaned against the taut ropes of the ring. "We are already exchanging several. What is the matter?"

Din climbed up into the cordoned square, and Ben's agitation stirred from its exhausted complacency, provoked by the acrid and burning simmering aggression in his fellow alpha. Instincts were such beastly nuisances. This was his _friend_ , not some rival or antagonist.

His companion wasted no time. "I would like to know what the devil was going through your mind last night?"

Ben frowned. "I'm afraid you'll have to be more precise. I think of many things through the course of an evening."

"Are you courting Miss Kenobi?"

"Should I not court Miss Kenobi?"

"No."

Ben raised a single eyebrow and wiped sweat from his brow. "Why not? Does someone else have a previous claim on her?"

"No."

"Then?"

Din glowered at him. "We both know you have no intention of taking a mate. So why this pretense, Solo?"

"Do you come here to express the objections of your father?" Ben examined the damage done to his knuckles. A little broken skin, but altogether, not too bad. He'd suffered worse wounds for a little emotional relief.

"My father thinks it's an agreeable prospect, of course. But then, he would, given the history between your father and himself, and the history between her grandfather and yours." Din sounded as if this concession greatly wounded his pride. "But he doesn't know what I know. Which is that you're only playing games, and will injure her in the end."

Ben peered at his friend, scrutinizing. "Do you have some claim on her, Djarin? Is that it? Why are you so protective?"

"I cannot and have not ever viewed her in that way, Solo," snapped he. Then, drawing a measured breath, he said slowly, "My father told me of the condition in which he found her. The girl has suffered enough for a lifetime. She does not need you, or any other careless alpha, adding to her wounds."

Ben softened a little, seeing the true fraternal concern written over the face of his companion, and said with a degree more gentleness than he'd used before: "I swear to you, I do not intend her any harm. I will not hurt her."

"Look, Solo, you are my friend. I esteem you as a younger brother. Like Ezra. I don't mean to accuse you of...but you must also understand that since the young woman came into the household and my father told me to watch after her, my instincts have told me that I must protect her from alphas like you. My duty will come before my friendly regard for you."

"I understand." Ben was silent for a moment, observing the way his friend tried to let go of his sour feelings all at once. He wondered how the thing was done for the ordinary person. How did emotions like that drain away without some outlet to release them? "But Djarin, I _will_ let Miss Kenobi's behavior be my guide. You will do what you must, and so will I."

"May the superior alpha prevail then," Din said with irritation.

Ben smiled. "I will."

**X X X X X X X X**

The very next day, ensuring Din's full ignorance on the scheme, Ahsoka and Bo took their foster sister out to the park where the eligible and single young people liked to walk sometimes with the hopes of meeting the individuals of their preference. This practice was well-known, and which alphas and omegas chose to walk together was a matter of immense importance. It loudly announced to all who witnessed that the two were forming an attachment at the very least, and perhaps even on their way to an engagement at the most.

Ordinarily, mothers would accompany the young singles as a sort of chaperone, but the Bacca children, having none, supervised themselves and each other. Din had taken his son for riding lessons, and Ezra and Kin had gone off practicing their fencing. That left the two oldest daughters quite free to do as they pleased without their pesky brothers interfering. Kaydel lamented that she could not go with them, but her sisters hardly heard her.

They were far too eager to assist Rey in the capture of the young alpha who had bestowed his attentions on her at Kanata's ball. They both agreed to it: Ahsoka, who had her own conspiracy with the queen and princess to keep in mind, and Bo, who generally thought the matchmaking between alphas and omegas truly barbaric, but who found herself as equally enchanted as everyone else when Rey and the marquess came together under the lights of Pavillion.

As for her own part, Rey went along with a quietness which they did not find unusual for her. Despite her liveliness of temper, she always fell into the background when all the household gathered, unused to so many people for so prolonged a period. So they did not question it when she rode along with them in muted rumination, but they could not see how blisteringly active and loud her mind was. Had they been able to do so, they would surely have wondered at it.

True to predicted, after returning from Lady Kanata's gala the sisters had tried to get out of their cousin the whole story of how she came to curry the marquess' favor. They did not have as much success as they would have liked. Rey only told them that Snoke tried to solicit her for a dance, but Solo intervened. They got to talking, and then he asked her to dance himself. It wasn't a very satisfying narrative for the sisters, but they believed every word of it.

Ahsoka congratulated herself for convincing her father to invite the marquess to dinner, for she was convinced that was the moment where the two had begun developing an interest in one another. Bo marveled and wondered at the mysterious link between alphas and omegas which she, as a beta, could not begin to understand.

And Rey kept her secret. Of Snoke, of Solo, of his touch or his scent or their wild, wild ruse. Especially the ruse. It still seemed to her a baffling, mad plan, but the consequences speedily followed and proved him right in his predictions.

The next day, the Bacca home was flooded with alphas who were keenly interested in taking what one of a better rank seemed interested in having. They saw it as an opportunity to prove supremacy over a rival. Rey accepted their attentions with some awkwardness, and no small degree of relief when her amused uncle finally ushered the last one away.

Some of them were really very nice. Joph Seastriker, for one. Kind and handsome. Kier Domati, _very_ handsome, very wealthy, but a little vain. Absent from among the various suitors, however, were Poe Dameron, Finn Storm, and Armitage Hux. Rey was relieved that they did not come. She'd seen how much interest they'd taken in her friends, and it would have spoken ill of their characters if they'd been so easily stirred from their designs just by a sense of rivalry.

Today, she was glad to have a respite from the suitors. Ahsoka deemed it probable that the marquess would be at the park, and so thought it a good opportunity to thrust them together again. Rey thought it very unlikely, given his disposition, to be at such a public place willingly. But to her everlasting surprise, he _was_ there. With his mother.

Ahsoka took them directly over, making noises about greeting the princess. She was on familiar enough terms with Princess Leia to warrant the presumption, and the princess didn't seem at all surprised. In fact she smiled at Ahsoka, and Ahsoka smiled at her, and the two greeted each other so warmly that Rey half wondered if they had not previously conspired to meet here together.

When all the proper introductions to the princess had been made, they turned to greet her son.

"Miss Bacca, Miss Bo-Katan Bacca," said Solo, bowing politely. His attention fell on Rey and with some touch of significance he said, a ghost of a smile punctuating the greeting, "Miss Kenobi."

"I wondered if I might find you here this morning," Princess Leia said to Ahsoka with artless good cheer, linking her arm through the younger woman's. "My mother is convinced that she will beat you at our next game of cards, but I told her it's hopeless."

While Ahsoka laughed and exchanged charming pleasantries with the princess, Rey found herself fidgeting with a great deal more nerves than she expected. She could not bring herself to look at her partner in crime, but she could feel his gaze like palpable weight on her shoulders.

"Oh, I see Paige Tico," said Bo cheerfully. "Excuse me, all of you."

And with that, she was gone.

Freed from the awkwardness of a fifth companion to entertain, Solo wasted no time. He bent his head in towards Rey and said quite softly, "Would you care to walk with me a while, Miss Kenobi?"

The princess and Ahsoka were still in conversation, but Rey knew by the subtle glances their way, and that most delicate shift of their omega scents, that they were curious about the exchange. The show of their attachment was as necessary this morning as it was the night of Kanata's gala, and walking together here would probably strengthen their charade, so Rey gave him a nod and with it her consent.

And so the two walked side-by-side down the little lane which skirted the river, passing pockets of their peers who glanced their way and resumed their gossip. Ahsoka and the Princess stayed behind, finding a bench on which to seat themselves. Apparently neither of them felt the need to be vigilant chaperones in so public a setting.

"How were your visitors yesterday?" Solo asked in that vague tone of amusement. "I hear you had many. Tell me, did you enjoy their hard-won attention?"

"Not as much as Kaydel did," Rey replied easily, smiling at the memory of her foster sister's starry-eyed enthusiasm. "She was enchanted by every single one."

"And you?"

Rey thought about each of the alphas soliciting her attention yesterday. They weren't disagreeable, most of them, though it wasn't nearly as diverting as an afternoon spent with Rose and some of her other new friends. After some deliberation, she judiciously replied: "I was glad that there were so many of them, Snoke could not even get time to speak to me."

"But he tried?" Solo's sharp glance suggested displeasure at this prospect, and Rey could not disagree with the sentiment.

"They said he was outside, hoping for entry, but that every newcomer put him off until he grew frustrated and finally went home."

"That is fortunate."

"What about you?" Rey returned. "Any trouble with the mothers?"

"Not a one." Content as a cat, he smiled, and Rey could plainly read in both that smile and in the gentle, pleasing surge in his scent that he was well satisfied with his own results of their arrangement.

"How do we proceed from here?" she asked, because she did not know how long they should keep it up. Her family's enthusiasm gave her cause for concern. She didn't enjoy lying to them.

Surprising her, his hand caught hers and guided it through the crook in his arm, escorting her with a gentle press. "We should walk like this," he explained loosely. "It's more familiar, and more convincing. As to your question, we should plan on at least eight balls together."

"Eight!" she cried, overwhelmed at the prospect. "Four, surely, is enough."

"You want our plan to succeed, don't you? The purpose of this arrangement is to buy us both some peace of mind for the duration of the season. Eight balls will nearly get us to the end of it."

" _You_ wish to go to eight balls?" Her incredulity could not be disguised. "You, who looked so disgusted at the first and actually had to escape the second."

That earned her a crooked half-smile, and he glanced at her with a surprising degree of unguarded affection. "You have found me out. I cannot deny it — I do not enjoy these functions, it is true. But I am under obligation to my mother to attend every single one this season. It is of vital importance that I am seen too engaged in soliciting your attentions to be available to any other omega or their mother."

"And what of me?"

"What of you? Did you not indicate that you are not quite prepared for all this world of courtship and mating ritual of alpha and omega? This will provide you that time, as we established before. And should you change your mind, as you have seen, there are many alphas eagerly waiting in the wing now. The influence of your uncle and cousin has waned."

She exhaled a hot breath. "Six balls."

"Eight. And you can expect some flowers from me later today. Large, expensive ones."

She peered at him suspiciously. "Why?"

"Why else? It's all part of the act, omega," he chuckled. "I will be seen buying and sending them. The Bacca household will be seen receiving them. And your foster family will see them delivered to you. No one can doubt my interest after that."

Rey sighed. "Such a complicated web of actions to alter a few perceptions."

Solo smiled again, his chin inclining in acknowledgement. "These are the delicate steps of social dancing, darling. Now you see why I resent them."

"Yes, I do. Life was easier where there were fewer rules to abide," she grumbled, thinking just a little wistfully of the fields around her grandfather's mans. "And fewer people watching."

"You grew up rather wild, as I understand it. I'm sorry you now find yourself in a cage."

She looked up at his face, and was surprised to see genuine feeling written there. As if he very well understood how difficult it was to abide by the constraints of a society she did not quite belong to. And she thought he really did understand — which was strange, and comforting, like his scent.

"It isn't so bad," said she after a minute. "At least I'm not alone. The Baccas can be a bit much sometimes, I confess, but I like being with them. It's better...than before."

To this, he said nothing. They walked along in quiet, unusually companionable silence for a while. The easiness between them was as strange as anything else that had happened, and Rey wondered how Solo could so easily forget the previous animosity they shared before. Was he really so great an actor? He ought to take up the stage. Or was it as he'd said at the party, and that he'd only resented her for being the object he was expected to pursue? Either way, it seemed obvious now that he felt quite safe from her predatory inclinations, and she, surprisingly, felt the same.

Rey spotted Rose Tico in the company of Finn Storm, and Millicent Dameron with Armitage Hux. She smiled at the good fortune of her friends, and privately wished them all the best luck with their hopes.

Eventually, with a degree of gentleness, Solo disrupted the contented silence and asked, "How is your hand?"

"It will be fine," she said. And then, adding to see how he would react, "it is not the first time I've struck someone."

At that, he laughed. "I am not surprised to hear it."

"I suppose it will ruin me if anyone should find out."

Even though he nodded to affirm this fear, his diverted smile lingered. "Yes, it will. Though that is a shame, because you did nothing wrong. Snoke is a villain, through and through. There is a reason he has not successfully wooed an omega in all his many, many, _many_ years."

She grimaced, remembered that they had an audience, and rearranged her features to something more pleasant. "I feel sorry for other omegas who have had to endure him in the past."

"They tell me Miss Bacca was once his target, but she is as entirely inaccessible to him now as any mated omega might be."

Rey glanced at him. "Oh? But she isn't mated."

He smiled knowingly. "No, she isn't."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" His coyness provoked her. She frowned and gave him a shrewd look.

Solo nodded towards a group of alphas standing in the shade of a large tree, deep in conversation but watching them nonetheless. Rey recognized many of them as her visitors the day before.

"See? Alphas are terribly petty creatures," he said, amused. "They're not equal to the real fight until someone else shows first courage. When there's blood in the water, they all want a piece."

Rey had no interest in this particular piece of information. She was growing to learn that alphas were, in general, tiresome. She pressed him further. "What did you mean about Ahsoka?"

"Oh, that. Only that she has an alpha, even if she does not bear a bite. Pride, I suspect, on both their parts, prevent them. But it is widely known amongst _all_ alphas, Snoke included, that Miss Bacca is quite spoken for."

They paused by the river's edge and glanced the long ways back towards their chaperons, who were both unmistakably watching them.

"Is that your aim for us?" Rey asked him, giving him a sharp look. "To create this reputation for me, that I'm spoken for without being bitten?"

He smiled a little, lifted his hand to graze along her jaw in a gesture that would certainly look, and most definitely _felt_ intimate. "For a season, omega. Just one season, let them all believe that you are mine."

She swallowed, trying and failing to extricate herself from the depth of his dark, warm gaze. "Why?"

He leaned in closer, his voice dropping to so intimate a whisper. "So that we may both be free."


	6. Chapter 6

_Dearest Reader,_

_With the social season well underway and new attachments budding into fruition daily, this author can hardly keep up with all the news to be shared. The Dameron and Tico families may have reason to rejoice by season's end, if the persistent visits by certain alpha suitors are any indication — and no one who saw the Marquess of Organa and the heir to the Kenobi name at the river walk promenade can guess at anything but joyful news in their imminent future. These young couples, while transported in those lofty heights of creating love, would do well to keep in mind the inherent risks in forming too serious an attachment before any firm plans are made. Greater couples than they have been swept away on tides of biological demand. For these reasons, it is prudent that the season's alphas and omegas take great care in their tender regards._

_Meanwhile, our thoughts turn again to our dear queen in wondering how she regards the interests of her only grandchild being so plainly captured. Does she condone the match? Or would she wish for a little competition to ascertain only the very best omega to contribute to her family line? While many a young woman and her mother have been lately dispirited by the apparent apathy of the marquess, this author by no means wishes to give the idea that the match it settled. Opportunity may yet arise, and hopeful candidates ought to be ready in case the darling new attachment should fail._

_Meanwhile, we watch eagerly for the first announcement of an engagement, and this author has her personal opinions on which couple might give it. But until then, dear friend—_

_Always Faithfully Yours,_

_Lady Appleknot_

**X X X X X X X X**

"Well, well," complained the queen. "Three miserable games lost to the sharpest and youngest mind at the table. What can be done?"

"I told you that your ambitions were fruitless," Leia laughed. "And yet you persisted in believing you could win."

Ahsoka smiled as she collected her small winnings. "A different game, perhaps, your majesty?"

"No, no, I'm quite through with games." The old woman waved her hand dismissively, and a pair of servants came to clean up the vestiges of their afternoon's diversions. Meanwhile Queen Padme stood, and her companions with her. They moved away from the wist table and off to the pretty little sitting room fashioned just outside on the balcony, affording them a lovely prospect over the garden.

Once settled, delicate glasses of tea in hand, the queen broached the subject foremost on everyone's mind.

"I see our plan is proceeding perfectly," said she. "You've played your part well, my young friend."

"Your Highness flatters me. I have not done half so much as you believe," said Ahsoka.

Princess Leia denied her this attempt at modesty. "Not so, Miss Bacca. You persuaded your father to invite Ben to dinner, and you brought Miss Kenobi out to promenade at my subtle hint that we too would be there. And I think I can safely assume you do your part to encourage your cousin's affections when in the privacy of your own home."

"As far as she will allow it, I certainly try." Ahsoka was not altogether surprised to find Rey rather reticent in the subject of her suitor. She was not naturally forthcoming to begin with, and certainly in this sensitive matter of the heart, it was expected for her to guard her feelings carefully. Nonetheless, Ahsoka did offer gentle and sincerely meant encouragements from time to time.

She genuinely approved of the marquess' interest in her cousin. He _did_ have a reputation, of course — enough to give Din and even Ezra disagreeable feelings towards the prospect — but it could have been worse. Many alphas were known to visit the night houses or hire help to get them through their periods of violent indisposition, but the Bennet Skywalker-Solo's reputation only hinged on his penchant for getting into fights. He was not so much a rake as an unrestrained savage, at least according to his behavior before he'd quit the country. But he'd been gone long enough to soften this image, and besides, Ahsoka herself saw how mild and gentle he was with regards to Rey.

There _was_ the matter of the way he'd spoken to her at dinner — very harsh indeed — but as Rey seemed inclined to forgive him the indiscretion, Ahsoka could no more hold it over him herself. She could not account for his attitude that night, however, he'd demonstrated such a remarkable turn of character since that she could hardly think it any sign of ill-fortune. And anyway, her father seemed pleased by the prospect in general, so she could not think ill of it.

There had not been a single wedding in the Bacca household since Din's marriage. It was natural, given their history, that they should all be wary of the institution. Nevertheless, Rey's marriage to the marquess would certainly be a great cause for relief and celebration, and would bring Ahsoka's father a great deal of joy. Despite his successions of heartbreaks, he was eager to see all his children — natural or fostered — happily settled.

"They do seem to be quite taken with each other," the queen said approvingly. "That is no small thing, as my grandson is not easily beguiled by a pretty face."

Leia set down her teacup and said with some feeling, "This morning, Mother, while they were walking the park, I saw him smile several times. And you know how rare it is to see Ben truly smile these days."

"I observed it as well," Ahsoka supplied. "And Rey too seemed to be quite at ease with him."

The queen expressed her unmatched delight. She clapped her hands once and Ahsoka detected a gleam of mischief come into those intelligent dark eyes. "Wonderful, wonderful. We shall not interfere too much, then, lest we spoil the bloom. Say little but mild encouragements here or there, and though I recommend letting them draw to each other naturally, yet I encourage the two of you to continue to facilitate their meeting, as much as possible. That, and only that, will be sufficient enough to foster their attachment, I pray."

"There is no mildness sufficient for delivering encouragement to Ben," Leia laughed. "He is quite aware of my hopes and motives. But I believe it is inescapable that he should fall in love with Miss Kenobi. I have never seen him display the leas degree of interest in any omega, and now she is here, and he can hardly keep away from her. The boy is doomed, though he does not know it yet."

Padme issued a soft trickling laugh and looked more pleased than a cat at a saucer of milk. Turning to Ahsoka, she said in a sudden flash of pragmatism, "I understand her education has been thorough, but what think you of her disposition? Is she a good, sensible, even-tempered sort of girl?"

At this, Ahsoka had to give herself a moment to consider. She respected the friendly association of the queen and wished to be as honest as possible, but her familiarity with her father's ward only went as far as Rey permitted. That deficiency of information made it difficult to paint the picture which she knew the queen wanted. On the one hand, she should not be too reserved in her opinion, not too critical, and on the other, not too generous in her praise. Either mistake would cause them to form the wrong impression of Rey, and that would do no one any good.

Carefully, she said: "She is good and sensible, your majesty, yes. She has a quick wit, and generally pleasing manners...but she keeps her own council and does not easily share her heart. We can but rarely persuade her to confess her feelings to us. I suspect she is not entirely comfortable in the crush of a busy household. She grew up very much alone, you know. Because of these she can be independent, but she's never proud or willful. I like her very much."

"A quick wit will serve her well as princess," said Queen Padme with consideration. "And a little reserve is appropriate for someone who will so often be in the public eye. Effusion of emotion would be highly inappropriate. Her solitary upbringing may be exactly suitable for the life she will have here."

"Princess?" Ahsoka cried. "Are the rumors true, then? Do you plan to name the marquess your heir in place of the prince?"

"As of yet I cannot confirm the inevitability, though I will confess to you, my young friend, of my very real desire to do so. First we must make this match succeed. It would do me no good to pass the crown to Ben if he intends to follow as celibate a life as his uncle."

Leia observed them both with great amusement. "My brother is not determined to be celibate, but his plans will not prove useful in the succession. Ben knows this, and he knows what his fate may very well be. It is his duty. Therefore Miss Kenobi may be just the right inducement for him to remember his duty."

"She will be leading society," Queen Padme rejoined emphatically. "She must be prepared for the duties of the princess. Is she an even match for the task?"

"I...believe so." Ahsoka, quite astonished by the very lofty prospects of her foster sister, now wondered if she knew the girl well enough at all to be able to make such an assertion. Rey, a princess? Quiet, reticent Rey, a leader of fashionable society? And if they had their way — one day a queen?

It was too much to fathom.

Leia laughed. "Even if she is not the most suited to the position, we will encourage the match at any rate. She looks like your only hope, Mother."

"Oh, certainly, certainly. We have had our share of unsuitable spouses before, and if even if Miss Kenobi should choose to join Anakin and Han among those numbered, yet the lineage will survive."

"Would Miss Kenobi or would Ben be the unsuitable spouse here?" Leia mused.

Padme dismissed the subject after a moment of pause. Ahsoka dared not interrupt them while they thought, but now that the queen spoke, she wished instantly that she had kept them occupied with her cousin.

"Yes, yes. We will do everything we can without alerting them to our scheme. Now, my dear Miss Bacca, you must tell me about your latest argument with Duke Maul."

**X X X X X X X X**

While Ahsoka was away scheming with royals, the object of their curiosity, Rey herself, was contentedly at home with her new friends, Rose Tico and Millie Dameron. Kaydel had gone to pay a social call to Tallie, and the rest of the Bacca family too had scattered on various errands, leaving Rey to enjoy her guests alone.

Their topic of conversation at first primarily had to do with their beaus. Rey was curious to know how a real courtship was supposed to look, and both listened intently and asked them many questions. Flowers were indeed part of the courting ritual, as both Storm and Hux had sent lovely bouquets to each of them. In fact, everything Solo suggested for their false attachment was exactly what these alphas in their real sentiments of affection were also doing. Rey was impressed. He knew the game well.

Rose enjoyed the company of Finn a great deal, but she was intimidated by his elder sister, Fazma. The woman was one of the only female alphas, and apparently relations in that family were rather tense. She and her half-brother shared an antagonistic relationship. Rose knew their father, Lord Storm, favored his daughter and would take her council regarding Finn's choice of mate rather seriously. Rose was therefore determined to ingratiate herself to the woman by any means necessary. Approval from Miss Storm would mean their father would not object if and when Finn determined to propose.

"Perhaps through Bazine," Millie suggested. "The sister of Maul. I have heard that Fazma is quite attached to her."

"Bazine is fearsome too," Rose said with a shudder. "I never see her but that she has a cross expression on her face."

Rey wasn't acquainted with the named woman, but the way Millie nodded confirmed that the subject in question really did have a cross expression. Rose expressed her reluctance to approach so hostile a creature. To befriend Bazine would be quite a feat.

"I believe Hux is on good terms with Miss Fazma." Millie said after some thought. Her cheeks colored and she smiled a little at the very mention of her suitor. "I will see what I can do to form an acquaintance. Also, Rey too may have an opportunity to know the woman, as I believe Miss Storm is also friendly with both the viscount and the marquess."

Rose positively illuminated at the prospect of such alliances. She leaned towards Rey and caught her hands entreatingly. "Do you think your cousin, or your dear Lord Solo, might be able to introduce you? If you should befriend her, how much easier it will be for me to do so."

Rey pulled her hands back into her own lap, warming a little in embarrassment at the mention of Solo in such a way, as if it were already a given that they had an understanding like that which Rose and Millie both seemed to enjoy with their alphas.

"I will ask," she promised nonetheless.

"If I can win her over, then whenever Finn is ready to make up his mind about me, there can be no objection from sister or father." Rose repeated this to herself more than once, seeming quite content in this plan, and happily turned the attention to Millie so that they might learn how the other girl's courtship was proceeding.

Armitage Hux, being the only child of Baron Brendol Hux, had no one to object of his choice, and things were moving along quite nicely in that regard. She liked how sweet and kind Hux was to her, how doggedly loyal he was too. He'd not asked a single other omega to dance since they'd begun seeing more of each other. It was promising. And there really could be no obstacle in the way of her happiness. Millie was from an excellent family, and the match was quite eligible — not a scant trace of scandal or reproach in it at all.

"The only one who objects is my brother," said Millie with a laugh. "Poe _hates_ Hux. He threatens to challenge him to a duel every time we speak of him."

That made Rey and Rose laugh as well, and they followed that line of conversation for a while, discussing Poe's reactionary nature and its manifestation in alphas in general.

"They are very jealous creatures, aren't they?" Rey observed. "I did not observe such possessive behavior in them at all until we came to town. I've never seen gentleman behave so very brutishly."

Rose nodded in understanding. "That is due, in part, to the seasonal urge to find a mate. They're already skating an aggravated edge this time of year, whether in town or in the country. But they also become even more agitated when they're thrust together with so many unclaimed omegas and so many rival alphas competing for their attention. It's all very zoological and primitive."

Rey and Millie both agreed with the conclusion.

"They _are_ jealous, yes," Millie added. "Poe is protective of me, as is his instinct. However in your case, my dear Rey, I believe the situation is even more delicate. None of the Bacca alphas are related to you by blood, and so their possessiveness may be heightened. Or so Lady Appleknot indicated in one of her missives. Though they've no true wish to claim you, their instincts urge them to defend you against all others who might take you away from them. I wonder, actually, that the viscount and Lord Solo have not already come to blows over the matter."

"Lord Solo is so well known for coming to blows," Rose laughed.

The mention of that meddlesome writer immediately produced sour feelings in Rey, and she would have wished for a turn in conversation, but her companions seemed eager to keep it up. They continued on philosophizing about the nature of alphas for some time, concluding that the only cure for them was to find a mate.

"But we live in a civilized society," said Millie. "They cannot simply bite an omega and have done with it. It is quite a drawn out process for them. For all of us, really. Very hard to endure when every instinct tells us to act quickly. First we must endure the courtship, then the engagement and the wedding, and only _then,_ during the honeymoon, can he bite."

"And you know what happens after that," Rose said with a coy smile.

And Millicent mirrored the expression and nodded sagely. "Oh yes, we know all about _that._ "

It was said with great significance, and a great exchanging of wise looks, and Rey felt that she was missing some very important understanding here. Loathe to make herself seem hopelessly uneducated, she nearly swallowed her objections and instead adopted an air of equal knowing. But she couldn't. She remembered how ignorant she'd been on the subject of alpha commands, and didn't want this to become another one of those moments. If there was important information here, she had to have it.

"What do we know, exactly?" Rey asked after hesitation.

Rose blinked at her in surprise. "You...you don't know?"

"I do not. No one had ever told me," said Rey. She looked at Millie. "What is it? What happens after?"

The ginger-haired girl blushed deeply. "Well...well…"

"It isn't — it isn't polite to speak of it," Rose stammered.

"Quite improper," agreed Millie.

Rey, in a glimmer of suspicion, diverted her gaze once more to Rose. "You don't know either, do you?"

Rose flushed as bright as Millie's hair. "I...I don't, I suppose."

And then Millie cried with loud protest, "Very well, I own it, I don't know either! Everyone always says it that way. Talking about _that._ What is _that?_ Why do they look each each other in such significance?"

"The way you two did just now," Rey laughed, relieved that her ignorance was equally distributed among them.

None of them understood what came after the bite. It was some great secret no one could speak of. But why? As far as any of them could see, what followed was either death in childbirth, or joyfully wedded bliss for the rest of their lives. But how did children come into the mix? Was that part of the secret?

They all knew, by the whisperings of their omega instincts, that somehow, those periods of wretched indisposition which came upon every omega after the manifestation of her designation, and returned again every three or so months, had very much to do with the business of child-making. Every omega in suffering knew keenly the torment of an empty womb, and ached to have it filled with fine offspring. And which omega had ever suffered through that illness without crying out for an alpha, though she knew not what relief an alpha might provide?

Somehow, their mates would help them. That much was known. But how it all happened, and what exactly must be done to get with child, remained a mystery. It had to be what came after the bite, but their ignorance on the subject yielded no possible insights.

"Do you think Ahsoka would know?" Millie asked Rey. "She's so much older, and so much wiser, and if anyone would know, she would."

"Wouldn't your own mothers be a better source?" Rey asked, mortified by the idea of asking her respectable, kind eldest cousin about the business of child-making. "Can you not speak to them about it?"

Rose blushed. "Mine says it is a conversation reserved for just before the wedding, and not a moment before. Neither Paige or I know."

Millie agreed. "Mine won't speak of it, either. She punished me once for asking. I wonder why it is we aren't allowed to know? Do you think it's terrible, and the knowledge of it might put us off forever?"

Rey really did wonder that very thing herself. But Rose was right, if anyone would be forthcoming about it, it would be Ahsoka. Reticence aside, Rey _would_ ask. Solo had told her she must learn about these delicate matters between alphas and omegas, for her own safety. Perhaps this was just such an instance. At the right opprtunity, she would summon her courage and demand answers of her wiser cousin. In the meanwhile, it certainly put into her mind a greater resolve to accept exactly _none_ of the alphas who were soliciting her attention this season. Solo's offer to buy her time was exactly what she needed. She would proceed with her ruse, comfortable and safe in the knowledge that she would escape this strange, unknown fate until such time as she obtained the right information to induce her into matrimony.

And for Rey's part, she hoped that inevitability was a long ways off.

**X X X X X X X X**

"Miss Kenobi," said Solo, his long face transforming into a charmingly boyish smile when he, escorting his mother through the ballroom by the arm, came upon the Bacca children assembled near the threshold. They'd only just arrived and the evening's ball was already well underway. Couples occupied the dance floor while the uncoupled drifted about in satins and silks and sparkling glasses, looking for the right partner.

Hungry eyes darted towards him, and others towards her. Rey felt them the moment she walked into the room, and she felt them again when Solo and his mother found them.

His scent greeted her as warmly as his smile, and she had to swallow once before she could conjure a polite response. Though increasingly familiar to her now, his scent was still as strangely inviting as it was the first time she'd collided with him. His face carried reserve, but amusement too, and none of that open hostility he'd given her at that first acquaintance. His shock of full, dark hair was well groomed, his smooth pale skin youthfully aglow in the starry lights of the ball, and Rey tried very hard not to observe too closely the fathomless depths of his ink-dark eyes, wherein she felt true danger lurked.

Only after they'd exchanged their greeting did Solo acknowledge her foster siblings. Din did not appreciate this show of favoritism, and greeted the marquess quite stiffly. The princess was all ease and gentility, receiving them all with sincere pleasure. Rey had exchanged only a few words with the princess, but she was rapidly forming a high opinion of the woman. Rey liked her. She was all grace and manners, but there was some wicked gleam in those eyes as dark and secretive as her son's, some razor sharpness to her smile which gave Rey the impression of an omega not easily conquered. There was spirit and fight in her. Rey could feel it, and she might have liked to know more, but the son was more interested in capturing her attention.

"If you are not otherwise engaged, Miss Kenobi," said Solo, drawing her back to him, "I wonder if I might have this dance?"

Opening his mouth to protest, Din was cut off by Ahsoka, who touched his arm and said persuasively, "Oh, Din, you mustn't let our dear princess go unescorted, now that her son abandons her. You will show her to the refreshments, will you not?"

"I would be most obliged to you, dashing young Bacca," said Leia with a grand smile, withdrawing her arm from her son's and taking Din's instead, providing him with no other alternative than to show her away from the rest.

Ahsoka gave Rey an encouraging smile, and then ushered the remainder of her family away to free the couple from the duty of attending to them.

Solo hummed thoughtfully as he offered his hand to Rey. "We are definitely the subjects of a conspiracy, little omega. My mother has never been so remarkably accommodating to my plans."

"Of course she would be. Does she not harbor hopes for your future, the same as every other mother here?" Rey allowed him to lead her to the other dancers, just lining up to begin a reel. "And anyway, if she or my cousins believe their own conspiracy against us is working, it is simply because we are good at playing our own."

"Just so," he agreed with a smile. "And fortunately for me, other mothers of the ton are just as persuaded by our performance. But what about you? Are you still receiving gentleman callers because of our ruse?"

"I am. Though...perhaps I wouldn't mind if they stopped calling altogether. At least for this season."

This seemed to intrigue him, and a single brow lifted. "Oh?"

She regarded him with some entertainment. "Are you really surprised? You've seen how inadequately prepared I was for all of this — how my upbringing failed to provide for a well-informed introduction into society."

"Yes," he mused with a smile. "Tragically uninformed, I'm afraid."

"I'm not willing to throw myself into something hasty, and then come to regret it later. I need time. I need to know what I'm getting myself into, should I accept the attentions of any suitor. This is not an area wherein I can afford to make a mistake."

"No, it isn't," he agreed, and his tone grew rather serious at that.

The steps of the dance necessarily carried them away from each other for a turn, trading partners and drifting in orbit before drawing them back again.

"So though I appreciate your assistance in encouraging the eligible candidates to disregard my cousin's prickly rivalry," she said when they were once more together, "I'm afraid it has worked rather too well, and I've become more aware than ever of my own lack of understanding."

"You wish for a reprieve."

"I do."

"Then we must be yet more convincing," said he with that warm little crooked smile of his. Rey really wished he wouldn't do that. "We must fan the flames, so to speak."

Flames wasn't _quite_ the imagery Rey liked to consider, just now, with the room feeling a touch too warm and Ben's scent a touch too enticing. She felt flushed and heated enough as it was.

She frowned. "You believe further proof of intimacy will dissuade them?"

"They will back down if they believe I am on the very precipice of proposal," he replied. "Right now they flock to you because they have seen that you are desirable, and believe they have a chance at persuading you away from me. However, if they see that there is no chance for them whatsoever, that you are all but bitten, they will back down and wait and see. If we were to break off our understanding now, that would only encourage them. They would think that you had spurned me, and that one among them stood a better chance."

She gave him an arch look. "You give your opinions very decidedly, sir. I wonder that you can have so much confidence in the behavior of your fellow alphas."

That remark twisted his smile into something of a smirk, his hand sliding around her waist to give her a twirl according to the steps of the reel. "Have I been wrong yet, my darling?"

"I will not gratify your already magnified arrogance with a reply," she sniffed.

He chuckled. "This is what we shall do then, Miss Kenobi. We will be glued to each other's sides all evening. Hardly anyone else will get a chance to break into our conversations, or get their names on your dance card. We will look for all the world as if we are quite enjoying ourselves."

"What a pretense you ask for, my lord," she teased with only a little sting. "To pretend to be happy with a companion such as you?"

"It will be quite as difficult for me, I confess. You are as odious to me as I to you. But let us endure, then, for the sake of each other."

He smiled, and Rey smiled, and his hand slid down her arm to catch her hand in the next step of the dance, fingers grazing over the gloved gland, sparking in her pleasure and delight. She thought that there were much more unpleasant ways to spend the evening than being with him.

That first dance was nothing short of euphoric. Rey knew with certainty that anyone who saw them would see exactly what was designed — two people very much alive in each other's company. She felt the easy thrill of it, effervescent in her whole body. It was a simple thing to feel at ease, with his scent telling her hindbrain that everything would be alright, and his genuine smile telling her rational brain that he found their lie as entertaining and indeed as _fun_ as she did. Even when she saw the glower of Snoke through the crowd, she couldn't help but feel persuaded that no unpleasant thing could touch her while she was so happily engaged in their clever ruse.

After the first dance finished, Ben guided her to the glasses of wine for refreshment. She knew herself to be quite flushed, could feel it in her warm cheeks and itching beneath the silky slip of her courting ribbon.

"Miss Ke—" another alpha tried to say, turning to speak to them, but Solo, pretending not to hear, angled his body in such a way as to cut the man quite off, leaning in to create an intimate island of space which only the two of them could occupy.

"See how it's done? I must be oblivious to anyone but you," he said with a cocksure grin.

Rey laughed. "You'll give yourself away as having the terrible manners I know you truly have, beneath all that formal education."

"So much the better." He seemed not the least bit concerned. His hand strayed to her, to lightly tease a lock of her hair. "They already know I'm ill-bred. And anyway, I don't much care what any of these fools believe of me, as long as they leave me and mine quite alone."

"Yes, I believe I picked up as much upon our first meeting one another." She felt the attention of others on them, and lifted her own to his with a carefully coquettish smile. She didn't much know how to flirt, but it didn't seem that hard. A teasing look flung into the abyss of those charming black eyes would do the trick.

Ben's hand fell away quickly, and with it his gaze. A little color bloomed in his cheeks and he cleared his throat. "Come, I think we're blocking the table."

She followed him through the crush of alphas and omegas, through the ocean of scents. Many instincts were stirring here. Desire and yearning and agitation made the air thick and heady. Everyone spoke about the inevitable break which happened every year — a break of decorum — where one young couple lost control over themselves and did something improper.

In environments such as this, Rey truly wondered how it did not happen to everyone. She wasn't even very well acquainted with her own instincts, having very little to provoke them before, but even she could feel something like a fever racing under her skin, urging her towards something she did not quite understand.

Finding a little space in an adjoining room, they made themselves comfortable with drinks in hand and topics of conversation at the ready. Solo asked Rey cordially about her adopted family, gratifying her with questions and observations as only an intimate friend of the Baccas could produce. The conversation was suitably benign, designed to be overheard by anyone, but his manner of address — rich voice low and gentle — and the occasional smiles or brushes of his fingers against her waist, or her wrists, or her hair, gave no one any doubt as to his being very much interested in this particular omega. They also gave Rey a bit of trouble, but she didn't tell him to stop.

There was one observer who noticed the intimate attentions especially more than the others.

"Miss Kenobi," said a haggard voice.

Rey felt all the warmth drain out of her face. She turned and saw him, that wretched old man determined to have her. The one who'd impugned her honor by removing her courting ribbon, and would have maligned it further by marking her if she'd not acted. He wore the evidence of that action now, in a mottled black-purple bruise staining the skin in and around both eyes, but one particularly more than the other. His nose jutted at an altogether different angle than before.

He had not succeeded in joining the throng of suitors parading through the Bacca household. That was the one true benefit of having so many. 

"What do you want?" Solo growled unpleasantly. He moved so that his body was halfway between Rey and her enemy.

"I would like to ask Miss Kenobi to dance," he said, stiff and formal.

"She has already promised the next to me."

"The next one, then." Snoke wasn't the least bit deterred, nor did he seem altogether intimidated by this younger alpha's size and obvious strength.

"Forgive me, sir, but I will not dance you with you at this or any other event," Rey said, chilling her words with a proper degree of coldness.

Snoke's lip curled ever so slightly. "We talked about manners, Miss Kenobi. I'm disappointed that you have not taken the opportunity to improve yours."

"I will not throw civility where it is not earned. You've shown me none, and shall receive none in turn."

Snoke did not seem altogether ruffled, though his wrong-shaped mouth turned in displeasure. Before he could make his retort, however, Din found and joined them. He looked irritated to see them still together, and more irritated still to see Snoke.

"There you are," he said to Rey, ignoring the other two. "I wonder if I can persuade you to join Bo for a time. I believe she wants to introduce you to some of her friends."

"Bacca." Snoke seized this as an opportunity to stake a claim. "I would speak to you."

Din reluctantly gave his attention to the man, chin high, shoulders square. "What about, Lord Snoke?"

"Surely you can see how improper it would be for the marquess to monopolize every one of Miss Kenobi's available dances for the evening."

"Yes, I do see that," said Din, eying him with distaste. "But I do not need your assistance in this matter. It is not your place."

"Snoke has villainous intentions," Solo said in low warning.

"This savage has been preying on your cousin," insisted Snoke. "It is my place to try to rescue her from him, if I can. You see how he harasses her. She can have no peace from him."

Din turned his body fully towards Snoke now, displeasure manifest in every hard line of his face. "You dare speak of rescue? For years now, you have been a thorn in the side of my family — always after my sisters, despite their repeated and clear rejections. Even Bo, who, as a beta, can be nothing to you. I am quite through with attempting to rebuff your misguided schemes. You will never have any member of my family to mate. You will never have one of my sisters, and you will never have Miss Kenobi. I will not approve it. My father will not approve it. You must cease this behavior at once and leave my cousin alone forever."

Snoke's face colored to a furious red, and his spine stiffened. Without so much as a civil bow of departure, he turned on his heel and walked away. And the moment his foul stench, so repugnant that not even Solo's soothing pheromones could mask it, had receded, Rey felt that she could breathe again at last. While he'd been there, she could remember the encounter in the garden with too much clarity, and felt sick at the violation.

"Solo," said Din, turning his attention to the pair of them once their antagonist had gone. "I thank you for trying to alert me to that vile oaf's interests, but I am already quite aware of his ambitions. And I must repeat my warning to you. Back off. Leave her alone. Though you may not be as repugnant as that old pustule, we both know your intentions are hardly innocent. Rey, I urge you to stay away from this one."

Solo, it would seem, did not appreciate this counsel, if his strong surge in scent was any indicator. That arctic chill crept in again, sweeping between them like a hostile wind. Rey could feel the tension and resentment right down into her bones, and it agitated her nerves. _Alphas are angry_ , that ancient voice inside her warned.

"I'm the only one standing between her and every other imbecile alpha in this room," Solo said in a low voice. "You should be grateful, not suspicious."

"I think my family and I can handle it quite well without your help, thank you. We were doing so just fine, until you incited every alpha in the county to try to stake their claim."

The two men stepped closer, fists clenching, agitation spiking further. Their glowers might have set the room aflame.

Rey's wrists itched. Her neck, under the ribbon, itched. In her chest, her heart rattled against its cage like an unhappy bird. Her very skin felt the effects of her inner restlessness, anxious impulses itching at all her sensitive spots. She slid the long sleeve of one of her gloves down far enough that she could get at the gland there, just where her hand met her arm, and gave it a satisfying scratch.

The tension diffused in an instant. Both alphas backed down, while Solo's eyes darted to her, and Din's fell away. The eldest Bacca's stiffened posture loosened and he cleared his throat.

"We will likely make our exit before long, Rey. I suggest you find Ahsoka or Bo soon."

And with that, Din turned and left them again, pushing his way through the throngs. Rey made a soft sigh of relief and was about to offer up some wry remark about the lack of boredom Solo must be experiencing at this particular social event when he gently tugged her sleeve back up her forearm instead and distracted the words right out of her.

She looked up at him, and saw that he wore a peculiar expression — a little troubled, a little soft.

"Miss Kenobi, are you alright?" His voice was equally soft, almost tender.

"Regarding Snoke, or my cousin?"

His mouth twisted in a faint half-smile. "I meant Snoke."

"Oh, yes, I'm alright." She did not like the nauseating memory of what happened in the garden, but she didn't want him to know how much it had upset her. She tried for levity instead. "Did you see his eye?"

It worked. He chuckled. "You left quite a mark."

"I did." But a moment later, a crack in her armor of bravado allowed a brief hesitation to slip through, and she admitted, "Is it uncivil to say that I...I think I hate him? No one has ever made me feel as powerless and afraid as he does."

"Listen to me," Solo said quickly and urgently, and she saw deadly resolve glinting in the depths of his dark eyes. "I assure you, Miss Kenobi, that I will keep you safe from him. Whatever else our understanding may look like to others, you may trust that he will not harm you so long as I can do anything about it. _That_ is no ruse."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, we won't drag out this pesky Snoke business for long.


End file.
